Refinery outages mean gas prices remain high

Gas prices nationwide remain high with only slight variation.

In Missouri, the average cost for regular gas is $2.90 a gallon, while nationally it's $3.26 a gallon.

The averages for diesel fuel are at $3.70 in Missouri and $4.09 nationally.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said the recent uptick in prices is mainly because of a series of issues impacting American oil refineries.

Blizzards and deep freezes have shut down or led to malfunctions at a slew of refineries over the past month, primarily in the Gulf Coast.

"Those are areas of the country that are not accustomed to seeing extremely low temperatures. Refineries in those states, which are outdoors exposed to these low temperatures, encountered issues," De Haan said.

In addition, the largest oil refinery in the Midwest shut down Feb. 1 because of a power outage likely caused by transformers failing.

De Haan said the Whiting Refinery in Northwest Indiana, which produced 435,000 barrels a day, is not expected to restart production until sometime in March.

"Just like getting a nail in your tire or a crack in your windshield, it can happen completely unexpectedly," he added.

Refineries can take a while to resume operations after a shutdown because of the numerous safety inspections that need to be passed.

In addition, oil refineries nationwide often conduct maintenance around this time of year, while the demand for fuel is lower, so they don't encounter unexpected issues in the summer when demand is higher.

This lack of supply has led to an increased cost. De Haan estimated gas prices would rise an additional 25 to 65 cents until reaching a peak around May.

County averages Sunday (per AAA)

• Cape Girardeau: $2.97;
• Perry: $2.94;
• Scott: $3.01.

Price ranges Sunday (per GasBuddy)

• Cape Girardeau: $$2.86 to $2.99;
• Jackson: $2.78 to $2.99;
• Perryville: $2.84 to $2.99;
• Scott City: $2.99.

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