Finally, some relief is to be had at the pumps as drivers gas up. The average price in Indiana has fallen from $4.20 on June 6 to $4.08 on Wednesday, a breath of fresh air despite the fact that the state’s average remains 45 cents higher than the national average. Fortunately, according to GasBuddy.com’s Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan, those prices will keep falling.
“Exxon Mobile’s facility in Joliet, Ill., has come back online and that’s meant a lot of downward pressure on wholesale prices, which will then, in turn, mean a big drop at the pump here in the next week,” said DeHaan.
He said Midwest travelers can expect to see a reduction of anywhere from 15 to 30 cents per gallon – maybe more. DeHaan said the issue that caused the spike earlier this month, which drove prices up from an average of $3.97 to $4.18 overnight, has been resolved.
“The whole concern before was Exxon Mobile’s planned maintenance was taking longer than expected; now that that maintenance is complete, prices are moderating,” DeHaan explained.
Even better is the fact that this relief is not expected to be temporary; that is, unless a refinery runs into another issue.
“This should be something that sticks around at least until the next refining incident. So, barring any other sort of refining incident, prices coming down, they’re going to stay down a little bit for more than just a few weeks,” DeHaan said.
