Power to spare

By slightly altering their behavior, consumers can drive down gasoline prices.

Gasoline prices usually decline after Labor Day. They do so not because dealers have back to school sales, or because cooling temperatures somehow cool off prices at the pump. Prices decline in the fall because Americans, their summer vacations over, drive fewer miles.

According to The Associated Press, crude oil prices fell below $68 a barrel Wednesday, a five-month low. The average price of gasoline in the United States is $2.73, down 34 cents from 12 months ago, a decline of 27 cents in the last three weeks, the U.S. Energy Department reported.

As declining prices have followed reduced demand, speculators have left the market, further easing upward pressure on energy prices. Increased supply also played a role in lowering prices. One year after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, refinery output is back to normal. Shell Oil reported that its heavily damaged Mars offshore platform is producing 190,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, 20 percent more than it did before Hurricane Katrina.

When gasoline prices hit the roof last fall, Americans did little to change their consumption habits. Now they are responding to high costs. Sales of vehicles for Toyota, associated with fuel efficiency, rose 17 percent in August. Ford sales, weighed down by a lineup of heavy SUVs and trucks, dropped 11.6 percent, moving the company to change management and curb production.

Houston Chronicle