natural gas prices on average were lower in 2009 than in 2008 and in 2007 , with prices in 2008 hitting uniquely high levels .
a significant portion of our natural gas production in the lower 48 states of the u.s .
is sold at bid-week prices or first-of-month indices relative to our specific producing areas .
a large portion of natural gas sales in alaska are subject to term contracts .
our other major natural gas-producing regions are europe and equatorial guinea , where large portions of our natural gas sales are also subject to term contracts , making realized prices in these areas less volatile .
as we sell larger quantities of natural gas from these regions , to the extent that these fixed prices are lower than prevailing prices , our reported average natural gas prices realizations may be less than benchmark natural gas prices .
oil sands mining oil sands mining segment revenues correlate with prevailing market prices for the various qualities of synthetic crude oil and vacuum gas oil we produce .
roughly two-thirds of the normal output mix will track movements in wti and one-third will track movements in the canadian heavy sour crude oil marker , primarily western canadian select .
output mix can be impacted by operational problems or planned unit outages at the mine or the upgrader .
the operating cost structure of the oil sands mining operations is predominantly fixed and therefore many of the costs incurred in times of full operation continue during production downtime .
per-unit costs are sensitive to production rates .
key variable costs are natural gas and diesel fuel , which track commodity markets such as the canadian aeco natural gas sales index and crude prices respectively .
the table below shows average benchmark prices that impact both our revenues and variable costs. .

benchmark
2009
2008
2007
wti crude oil ( dollars per barrel )
$ 62.09
$ 99.75
$ 72.41
western canadian select ( dollars per barrel ) ( a )
$ 52.13
$ 79.59
$ 49.60
aeco natural gas sales index ( dollars per mmbtu ) ( b )
$ 3.49
$ 7.74
$ 6.06

western canadian select ( dollars per barrel ) ( a ) $ 52.13 $ 79.59 $ 49.60 aeco natural gas sales index ( dollars per mmbtu ) ( b ) $ 3.49 $ 7.74 $ 6.06 ( a ) monthly pricing based upon average wti adjusted for differentials unique to western canada .
( b ) alberta energy company day ahead index .
integrated gas our integrated gas strategy is to link stranded natural gas resources with areas where a supply gap is emerging due to declining production and growing demand .
our integrated gas operations include marketing and transportation of products manufactured from natural gas , such as lng and methanol , primarily in west africa , the u.s .
and europe .
our most significant lng investment is our 60 percent ownership in a production facility in equatorial guinea , which sells lng under a long-term contract at prices tied to henry hub natural gas prices .
in 2009 , the gross sales from the plant were 3.9 million metric tonnes , while in 2008 , its first full year of operations , the plant sold 3.4 million metric tonnes .
industry estimates of 2009 lng trade are approximately 185 million metric tonnes .
more lng production facilities and tankers were under construction in 2009 .
as a result of the sharp worldwide economic downturn in 2008 , continued weak economies are expected to lower natural gas consumption in various countries ; therefore , affecting near-term demand for lng .
long-term lng supply continues to be in demand as markets seek the benefits of clean burning natural gas .
market prices for lng are not reported or posted .
in general , lng delivered to the u.s .
is tied to henry hub prices and will track with changes in u.s .
natural gas prices , while lng sold in europe and asia is indexed to crude oil prices and will track the movement of those prices .
we own a 45 percent interest in a methanol plant located in equatorial guinea through our investment in ampco .
gross sales of methanol from the plant totaled 960374 metric tonnes in 2009 and 792794 metric tonnes in 2008 .
methanol demand has a direct impact on ampco 2019s earnings .
because global demand for methanol is rather limited , changes in the supply-demand balance can have a significant impact on sales prices .
the 2010 chemical markets associates , inc .
estimates world demand for methanol in 2009 was 41 million metric tonnes .
our plant capacity is 1.1 million , or about 3 percent of total demand .
refining , marketing and transportation rm&t segment income depends largely on our refining and wholesale marketing gross margin , refinery throughputs and retail marketing gross margins for gasoline , distillates and merchandise. .

Question: by what percentage did the average price of the wti crude oil benchmark decrease from 2008 to 2009?
Answer: -37.8%