''Ask AP,'' is a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers' questions about the news.

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Q: I understand, to some degree, the raising of gasoline prices when the price of a barrel of oil increases. What I can't understand is why we never see a significant drop in prices at the pump when the price of oil drops. Oh, there may be a penny less here or there, but nothing like the increases you see when oil prices go up. Why is that? Joseph Patterson St. Louis

A: The cost of oil does indeed affect what we pay at the pump, but the process of getting it from the well to your gas tank takes time. Prices take a while to catch up.

Oil future contracts being traded now - the ones that hit new records last week but have since seen big drops - are for oil that won't be delivered until next month. That oil still has to travel to a refinery, be broken down into gasoline and other products, and then get shipped again before it reaches your local filling station.

Adam Schreck, AP Writer