Slide 4 of 30
- During the past 25 years, the nominal price of gasoline (price not adjusted for inflation) has risen at an average annual rate of 5.2 percent; the real price of gasoline (price adjusted for inflation) rose only one-fourth of a percent per year.
- Gasoline prices (real and nominal) reached a peak in 1981.
- Gasoline prices declined after 1981 despite a steady rise in real taxes, a reflection of world crude oil market movement.
- The nominal price of gasoline dropped about 31 percent between 1981 and 1986, a post-embargo low.
- The real price of gasoline dropped 43 percent between 1981 and 1986, and continued a slow decline for 2 years more. By 1988, the price of gasoline had declined 45 percent, for a post-embargo low.
- Gasoline price increases are strongly influenced by the price of crude oil.
Source: Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review 1997, DOE/EIA- 0384(97). (Washington, DC, July 1998), Table 5.22.
Note(s): 1972-1977: price of leaded regular gasoline was used; 1978-1996: price for all types of gasoline was used.
