The price of crude oil is the major factor in determining the price of gasoline at the pump, but there are a number of other factors. While it may not seem so to frustrated Americans struggling to make ends meet, today’s gasoline prices are very much in line with crude prices.

Historically, what consumers pay at the gasoline pump has been around 97 cents a gallon higher than the price of crude oil per gallon, and that’s where gasoline prices are these days. Included in the pump price of gasoline are taxes, refining, marketing, transportation and other costs.

Other factors -- such as demand, gasoline inventory and import levels, and the effect of weather and other factors on refinery operations -- may play a part in how long it will take retail gasoline prices to match crude oil prices.

According to the federal Energy Information Administration, the cost to produce and deliver gasoline to consumers “includes the cost of crude oil to refiners, refinery processing costs, marketing and distribution costs and, finally, the retail station costs and taxes. The prices paid by consumers at the pump reflect these costs, as well as the profits (and sometimes losses) of refiners, marketers, distributors, and retail station owners.”