GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Remember last week when I told you that barring any severe weather or refinery interruptions, the highest gas prices of 2025 are most likely in our rear view mirror? Just a few days later, storms temporarily knocked out one of the largest refineries in the Midwest, triggering sharp jumps in gas prices across not only Michigan but also Wisconsin, Ohio, and Illinois.
“They produce millions of gallons of gasoline every single day,” GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said. “As a result of this downtime, the wholesale price of gasoline has shot up.”
Specifically, in West Michigan, there are two delivery points for gas in Ferrysburg and Muskegon that saw their wholesale prices jump nearly 25 cents after the refinery shutdown. This means any gas stations in West Michigan buying new gas in the last few days were paying a much higher price, and that’s after we had already seen gas prices cycle back to $3.39 per gallon last week. With the wholesale prices increasing by another 20 cents, that is forcing many gas stations to hike prices again this week, according to De Haan…