Gas prices spiked nearly 20 cents over the course of Friday night, leading many motorists shocked and confused at the now-average price of $3.97 around Indiana. What led to this unexpected increase? According to GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan, a simple refinery glitch could be the culprit.
DeHaan explained on GasBuddy.com’s blog that the only region seeing higher spot prices and, consequently, higher retail prices is the Great Lakes region. He attributes this to trade rumors of a refinery that was found to have been buying gasoline to other refineries, which is typically due to an unexpected glitch that caused lower gasoline production. The affected refinery must then buy gasoline on the market to make up for the lower production, and when the market catches wind of this, prices tend to spike.
Because of this, DeHaan explained, prices are expected to jump in northwest Indiana. In Michigan and the Hoosier state, prices may jump around $4.09, but in northwest Indiana, the prices could spike even higher due to summer gasoline requirements.
