MICHIGAN (WNEM) – The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil dropped 16 percent on April 8, but gas prices are not doing the same.
Rey Trevino III, vice president of operations for Pecos Country Energy in Fort Worth, Texas, explained why gas prices do not move downward as quickly as oil prices do during volatile times like the Iran war.
“The gasoline that we’re purchasing today at the gas pump was actually refined anywhere between two to four weeks ago,” Trevino said. “So everybody has to get their cut of that price two to four weeks ago in the price of gasoline today.”
Trevino said that if everything were to stop and come to a halt in a positive way for America, prices would probably change at the gasoline pump in about six to eight weeks.
“The reason why is it will take three to four weeks for the price to finally settle down to where we’re going to have a new average, and then that will relay in to the price of gasoline from there,” Trevino said.
Trevino also said if the Strait of Hormuz reopens, it will take about a week to get the normal flow of oil tankers moving through there again.
Subscribe to the WNEM TV5 newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email every day.
Copyright 2026 WNEM. All rights reserved.