“Some areas in Michigan and Indiana may flirt with $4 per gallon,” he said, but thought the $4 mark was unlikely in Southwest Ohio.
In addition to three refineries in Illinois and Indiana suffering malfunctions this week, a Wisconsin pipeline that delivers crude oil from Canada to Chicago had to be shut down.
“There is a lot of stuff happening at once,” DeHaan said. He said local prices will remain high as long as problems in the region persist because other refineries have to pick up the slack by transporting oil further distances. “It may last a couple weeks.”
The effects of those setbacks could be seen Wednesday when wholesale gas prices rose 20 cents per gallon, bringing the total increase since July 25 to 61 cents per gallon.
DeHaan said on a typical day, wholesale prices may rise or fall about 3-7 cents per gallon. “To see a rise of 20 cents is certainly very rare,” he said. In fact if was the largest single-day increase since August of last year.
On Wednesday the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Hamilton and Middletown was $3.62, nine cents above the national average. The lowest local price reported to the web site was $3.58 per gallon at Kroger in Hamilton and $3.62 at United Dairy Farmers in Middletown.
If prices make the jump to $3.90 or higher, it will be the first time since June 2011 that local prices have reached that level. The last time the average here reached $4 per gallon was the second week of May 2011.
Nationwide, gas prices rose 5.1 percent in July after three months of decreases, according to AAA data. The motor club is predicting national average prices to remain flat through Labor Day and then drop off as the summer driving season comes to an end, according to an online outlook statement published Tuesday.
The national 5-year average for August is $3.10 per gallon, according to AAA data.
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