(WXYZ) — Drivers throughout West Michigan are seeing a big jump in gas prices on Monday morning.
AAA Michigan said the statewide average is now $3.97 per gallon, which is up 17 cents in the last week and 73 cents higher than this time last year.
Gas Buddy predicts prices in Michigan will rise past $4 a gallon. The Speedway on Plainfield Avenue in Grand Rapids raised prices to $4.19 on Monday.
Since mid-June, prices have been falling. Back then, the average price in Michigan was around $5.22.
That's because supply started to go up and demand was low, there were growing concerns of a global recession leading many people to cut back, many were still working remotely, and the strong dollar helped bring down the price of crude oil.
So what's changed since then? The biggest reason is a fire at an oil refinery near Toledo last week that left two people dead and forced the BP facility to shut down.
It's not clear when the facility will be up and running but till then, people will have to loosen up their wallets or get creative.
*WXYZ contributed to this report.
