"Gasoline Stagflation": Higher prices simultaneous with lower sales

Drivers are losing their thirst for gas. The national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas climbed to $3.898 on Tuesday.

SUN -0.49% Yet high crude costs are proving difficult to pass on to the consumers. That has made refining—which once was considered a must-have business for many large energy companies—unprofitable and unfashionable.