- Gas prices spiking statewide, with the highest price — in Jackson, according to AAA.
- Drivers feeling the pinch at the pump.
- Gas price analyst Patrick De Haan explains what's behind the 30-cent jump.
- Video shows analyst Patrick De Haan, gas prices around our neighborhood, and frustrated drivers.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
With prices nearing $4 in our neighborhood, drivers are feeling the pinch.
"Very tough right now. Got two vehicles. Got a family to support," says one.
I found out why we are seeing such a jump.
"They definitely shot up crazy for no reason. I don't understand what's going on," says another driver filling up today on Michigan Avenue.
"Got to fill the vehicles…" says the first.
Drivers flummoxed, pocketbooks pinched…gas prices once again on neighbor's minds.
I called up nationally known gas price analyst Patrick De Haan for his take on why prices are spiking in our neighborhoods.
"A lot of that has to do with the complete shutdown of the Exxon-Mobil refinery outside Chicago in Joliet," he says. "That happened last Monday after an EF2 tornado toppled transmission towers, cutting power to that refinery."
Wholesale prices, De Haan notes, have shot up 30 cents per gallon as a result of the stoppage.
"That refinery can produce up to 9 million gallons of gasoline and diesel a day. It's the loss of those millions of gallons of gasoline and diesel that have pushed the wholesale price up and that is what is behind the big jump in gas prices we've seen," says De Haan.
As for differences between our neighborhoods:
"Michigan prices tend to be very similar. Taxes are obviously similar between any of the major cities, whether Grand Rapids, Flint, Jackson, Lansing. So the only differences are going to be very localized and likely very small."
There is some hope on the horizon. According to De Haan, the Chicago-area refinery is just starting back up, with power restored.
"The good news is, unless there's additional damage at that refinery, we shouldn't see much more of an increase," he says.
For some, that may not be good enough.
Says one neighbor: "I stopped paying attention to the gallons, I just started paying attention to the amount I'm putting in...just 20 dollars, 30 dollars at a time…I don't know…it's a disaster right now."
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