Why is Gas So High in Columbus?

US-ENERGY-OIL — Source: RONALDO SCHEMIDT / Getty

Gas prices across Columbus and Ohio have climbed fast this week. Some stations are starting to push close to $5 a gallon for regular unleaded.

At the beginning of February, the average price for regular gas in Columbus was around $2.90 a gallon. At $4.29, filling up a 13-gallon tank costs about $18 more. For someone filling up once a week, that adds up to roughly $72 extra a month. And, even more as prices continue to rise.

Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, Patrick De Haan, says the biggest reason for the spike in Ohio right now isn’t just the global conflict, it’s refinery outages much closer to us.

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“A lot of the reason for the big spike that we’re expecting here at any moment is really having to do with a couple of major refineries that have seen unexpected outages,” De Haan said.

One affected refinery is in Indiana, while another is in St. Louis. Because Ohio depends heavily on those regional refineries for fuel supply, any disruption quickly impacts prices across Central Ohio.

For weeks, experts had been watching tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and the war involving Iran as a possible driver for higher gas prices. But now, De Haan says the focus has shifted.

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“The last eight weeks, it’s really all been about the Strait of Hormuz, and now it’s really going to be much of the focus on these refinery outages that have developed that is going to cause a very quick and major jolt here over the next couple days,” he said.

The price jump is hitting wallets, and families, hard.