Chicago-area gas prices are surging after a tornado nearly took out a refinery

By Matt Egan, CNN

New York (CNN) — Gas prices have spiked in and around Chicago after a tornado sidelined a major ExxonMobil oil refinery last week.

A gallon of gas in Chicago is now selling for an average of $4.34, according to AAA.

That’s 27 cents more expensive than just a week ago after a tornado narrowly missed the Joliet Refinery and knocked power out to the Channahon, Illinois, facility.

But it’s not just Chicago getting hit with higher prices.

The top 10 US metro areas experiencing the biggest one-week gas price increases are all located in the region, according to AAA.

In Gary, Indiana, the average price for regular gasoline has spiked by 41 cents over the past week to $3.65 a gallon.

In Wisconsin — a key battleground state that Vice President Kamala Harris visited Tuesday — gas prices have increased sharply over the past week in Kenosha County (+31 cents), Milwaukee-Waukesha (+27 cents) and Racine (+24 cents).

Gas prices have also jumped in nearby Michigan, another battleground state in the upcoming presidential election.

Andy Lipow, president of consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates, noted there are estimates that the refinery will be sidelined for three weeks. Even then, there’s no guarantee it will be back to normal. In the meantime, gasoline is being shipped from the Gulf Coast to the Chicago area, he said.

The Joliet Refinery now has enough power to assess damage to the equipment and begin the work of restarting operations, Exxon spokesperson Catie Tuley told CNN on Wednesday. Exxon declined to speculate on how long the restart will take.

“We’ve brought in additional resources to get the refinery safely restarted as soon as possible to supply critical fuels to Chicago and the Midwest,” Tuley said.

Lipow said the government can help by relaxing gasoline quality specifications for metro areas. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken similar steps during previous supply crunches.

“It will increase supply and lower prices,” Lipow said.

EPA spokesperson Shayla Powell told CNN in a statement Wednesday that response teams from the agency as well as the Department of Energy have been “coordinating with the refinery and state emergency response teams since the refinery shutdown to monitor the impact of the shutdown on gasoline supplies into the area.” The work, she added, is ongoing.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Chris Isidore contributed to this report.