Oil prices are dropping, so let's see the cost of petrol fall too.

In all the furore over the global financial crisis, did you notice that crude oil prices are also plummeting?

The last time I checked, Brent Crude - produced in the North Sea - is down to around $77 a barrel, way below the peak of $145 it reached in July.

Globally, the figure on oil from Texas, the Middle East and the rest of the world is a drop of 40 per cent, from $142 Dollars to just $85.

There was a time, not too long ago, when the world was amazed to see oil going above $100 a barrel for the first time.

But it didn't stop there - no sooner had it broken that magic barrier than it kept on rocketing up to its all-time high.

It was the same with petrol prices. For ages the price pushed against the £1 for a litre mark, with petrol stations holding it back at 99.9p per litre.

But once the dam burst, they quickly marched on up to almost £1.20.

So why is it that, now the price of oil has almost halved again, we haven't seen prices at the pumps dropping accordingly?

Why do oil companies feel it is OK to push petrol prices up so much as the price of crude rises, yet be so slow to let prices drop again?

And is it perhaps true that, once we are used to paying more than £1 a litre, as I suppose we are now, we won't see them dropping back down below that significant figure?

More likely, we will be grateful for any drop at all ("Oh look, that garage is doing a litre for £1.01 - how cheap!") without remembering the outrage we all had when the £1 figure was breached.

Anyway, hopefully we'll see petrol reaching more affordable levels before too long.

Even if prices stay where they are at the moment, two people sharing petrol for a car journey will find travelling cheaper than buying two train tickets.

And once it petrol prices drop - if it happens - it will be interesting to see if those people who abandoned the car to use more eco-friendly forms of transport, because of the price of petrol, will joyfully jump back into the drivers' seat again.

Like a couple making up after a row: "I hate arguing with you. Let's never let this come between us again."