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Eau Claire (WQOW) – Motorists may want to top off their tank. An oil analyst is predicting a spike at the pump.
Patrick DeHaan, an analyst with GasBuddy.com, says he expects a majority of gas stations in Wisconsin to increase prices anywhere from 10 to 35 cents by Friday night.
Here are the reasons for the potential spike: DeHaan says there was a shutdown of a pipeline that delivers crude oil from Canada to Chicago along with problems at three regional refineries. The price at the pump has been $3.72 a gallon in Eau Claire.
Right now, oil is trading at about $89 a barrel. In recent years, we've seen it trade at that level when the price of gas was much lower, about a dollar lower. WQOW News 18 asked DeHaan why we haven't seen cheaper prices at the pump with oil trading between $80 and $90 for much of the summer.
He said a few things are different today. There is no ethanol credit or subsidy in place. He also says summer gasoline costs more to produce. DeHaan went onto say competition may be playing a factor, especially in Eau Claire, an area they're accustomed to seeing prices all very close to each other, noting a lack of competition between stations.
