Business Notes Energy

In many cities last week, motorists must have felt as if they were on a nostalgia trip. At Alert service stations in the South, dealers were selling unleaded gas for as little as 87.9 cents per gal. and throwing in a car wash to boot. Downtown Standard Service in Denver offered unleaded for 85.9 cents per gal., down from $1.19 in mid-February. Some Houston dealers chopped the price of regular, which was as high as $1.24 last month, down to 69.9 cents.

The major reason for the good news is the plunge in oil prices. Only last November crude was selling for more than $30 per bbl., but by last week it had dropped to about $12. Because oil price declines can take 40 to 90 days to work their way through to the pump, the impact of lower-cost crude is just beginning to be felt. Some experts are predicting 60 cents gas for the summer, which may tempt a lot of people to polish up the old T-Bird and have some fun, fun, fun.