A malfunction at a refinery created quite a spectacle outside Chicago. Now, there's talk that an outage there could lead to a spike in gas prices. Local experts, though, aren't too concerned.
The BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana, lost power and stopped operations Thursday. Power has since been restored. Reuters reports BP is investigating what happened before they resume operations. That prompted concerns from some, including GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan, that gas prices could go up 10 to 30 cents here in Kentucky. However, local experts are more optimistic.
"The Great Lakes region is looking at a gasoline surplus right now, and so that will hopefully help to keep any impact on gas prices more moderate, and hopefully, we can avoid those high spikes," said Lori Weaver Hawkins, public affairs manager for AAA Bluegrass.
"All indications are with that surplus in the region and the expectation that the refinery won't be down more than a few days, I think that all these dire predictions may grab headlines, but in reality we're probably not going to get as impacted as it's being told in some instances," Weaver Hawkins added.
According to GasBuddy, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded in Kentucky is $2.81. In Lexington, the average is $2.79. Nationwide, the average is $3.15.
