Oil is plunging, but don’t expect $3 gas anytime soon. Here’s why | CNN Business

Oil futures are plunging – but it could still take weeks or months before gas prices are dramatically lower. Word of a two-week ceasefire in the war in Iran and a possible reopening of the vital Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers sent crude prices crashing on Tuesday evening into Wednesday. But even if the war ends – which remains to be seen – the massive disruption in global oil markets isn’t over yet. The average price for a gallon of gas has soared to $4.16 since the start of the war, according to AAA, up by $1.18. Even a relatively small decrease to $4 a gallon could take one or two weeks, according to gas price tracking service GasBuddy. And getting below $3 a gallon, as gas prices were before the war started on February 27, could take months, analysts told CNN. “There’s an old expression – gas prices go up like a rocket and come down like a feather,” said Tom Kloza, an independent oil analyst and advisor to major oil company Gulf Oil. Within 48 hours of the ceasefire deal announcement, retail prices should start to edge down by a few cents each day as wholesale prices fall, Gas Buddy said. But undoing all the price gains since late February hinges on getting oil