Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Wednesday, April 9, 2014
(UNDATED) - If you didn’t fill up your gas tank Monday, you probably paid a lot more Tuesday.
Gas prices began spiking across much of Indiana, going up as much as 30 cents a gallon at some stations.
"Big cities across the state saw prices jump to around 3.79 a gallon," said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy.com.
There were several factors, the biggest of which was a jump in the price of ethanol, which usually holds gas prices down.
"In the last week and a half, ethanol prices have surged 50 cents to a dollar per gallon higher than gasoline, and since our gas is blended with ethanol, the higher price of ethanol will make an impact," DeHaan said.
It also has affected those who drive flex-fuel vehicles that can use regular gasoline or E-85 fuel; E-85 is typically cheaper than unleaded gas, but DeHaan says many stations are selling E-85 for less than what it costs them.
While spring has arrived, DeHaan says the spike in the price of ethanol is residual from the cold winter.
"The cold played havoc on rail networks and the switching devices that routed those trains effectively. So now, after the cold weather has lifted, we're finally seeing the effects of some of those bottlenecks that occurred on rail networks," said DeHaan, adding that railroads were largely the only way to transport ethanol during the many winter snowstorms across the midwest.
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