Many factors but a few off the top of my head:
1) Oil is not the same as the refined product we use for vehicles. Assuming you are in the U.S., there is just less refining capacity here for certain types of fuel (e.g., the oil you get from Saudi is different than the oil you get from Russia and needs to be processed in different types of facilities and/or for different purposes)
2) Gas stations are independent operators and might not be lowering prices to make more money now (potentially because they had lost money before when prices spiked or because they think they can)
This phenomenon is called something like "rockets and feathers" of gas prices. I don't think anyone knows exactly why this happens, but I think it has something to do with the fact that gas stations all want to sell their gasoline at the highest price they can and rising oil prices let them raise their prices. But when oil prices fall, competitive forces act more slowly. If you run a gas station, you won't drop your price by $1 per gallon just because your costs have fallen by a $1 per gallon. You'll watch the station across the street drop his price by 5 cents, then you will drop your price by 7 cents, then he will drop his by another 5 cents and so on. The two competing stations will gradually eat away at each other's profit until the gas is back to being priced basically at cost.
IMO, atlasunshrugged gave a comment that mentioned a couple of important variables to consider.
Personally, I'd also mention the monetary policy factor. There's a huge problem of perspective when it comes to what prices are and what happens in inflation. You have to consider if prices are actually rising, or is the currency being reduced in value a lot? (Personally I think real inflation rates being under 10% is fiction and inflation is a lot worse than we're told)
Fuel prices are just significantly more visible to people than many other prices because gas station charges are so visible and one of the few purchases that is hard to avoid if you live in America outside of a dense city.
Profit. We were on a road trip Easter weekend and had a drive on Easter morning but decided to fill up the night before. The hotel was across the street from the station and when we left early Sunday morning the price was noticeably higher. It wasn’t stock prices and I doubt they had a delivery because they probably closed overnight.
What’s the mantra here on HN about solo/small startups and prices: increase them to the going rate or charge more, right? Many gas stations are really just small businesses.
This transcript of a WSJ podcast gave a great overview: https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/your-money-matters/why-gas-pric....