GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Last week, a refinery in Indiana went offline, causing Michigan drivers to see gas prices rise by 30 to 50 cents, ending the relief seen at the pump, where prices were well below $3 a gallon in some areas of the state.
“This is the largest refiner in the Midwest,” GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said. “Gasoline prices then spiked at the wholesale level because of the huge drop in output from this refinery.”
The good news is that prices are starting to head back in the right direction. I spoke with De Haan, who says gas prices in the Grand Rapids area dropped 11 cents on Monday since peaking at $3.23 a gallon last week. De Haan expects prices to fall below $3 a gallon by the end of the week.
“Some stations in West Michigan were in the $2.50s, but it may take a little more time to return to those lows; it could be closer to Thanksgiving before we start to see that,” De Haan said.
BP has since restarted the refinery and is expected to resume normal operations at some point this week. According to De Haan, widespread increases in prices were seen not only in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, but also in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin because BP has contracts in place, meaning they have to buy gas in bulk from other refineries. This results in price increases affecting more than just stations near the refinery outage.
As for when to fill up this week, De Haan expects prices to dip back below $3 a gallon on average by this weekend. If drivers can wait a few days to fill up, they’ll save more on gas.
Here's a look at where gas prices stand, on average, as of Tuesday morning, October 28th, 2025:
KENT COUNTY: $3.09/gallon
MUSKEGON COUNTY: $2.99/gallon
OTTAWA COUNTY: $3.06/gallon
KALAMAZOO COUNTY: $3.15/gallon
