Drivers in the Chicago metropolitan area may, unfortunately, soon pay even more at the pump. The cause is still-unresolved problems at the refinery in Joliet, Illinois.
ExxonMobil said it is working to resolve the problem at the facility but gave no details. Bloomberg reported that the situation could affect gasoline prices across the Midwest, though it did not estimate how large any increases might be.
According to the business news service, wholesale gasoline prices jumped sharply after the refinery outage. That could hit consumers in Michigan and Ohio, key political battlegrounds, less than two weeks before important midterm elections.
AAA said the average price of regular gasoline in Illinois on Friday was $4.81 a gallon, up 15 cents from Thursday. In Indiana, prices rose 12 cents, to $3.98 a gallon. In Wisconsin, the average price was $4.32 a gallon, up 11 cents from Thursday.
Citing data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Bloomberg reported that gasoline inventories in the Midwest have already reached a record low for this time of year. Nationwide, gasoline stocks fell by 3 million barrels last week.
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Source: Polski.FM
