Gasoline prices in Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and other neighboring states are starting to jump as of Wednesday morning according to data from GasBuddy. Motorists should expect prices to quickly rise to $2.99 per gallon in Chicago’s suburbs, $2.85 per gallon at many stations across Michigan, $2.79 in Indiana, $2.75 in Kentucky, $2.75 in areas of West Virginia, $2.69 at stations in Ohio and $2.59 in areas of Wisconsin.

The rise at the pump comes as oil prices have hit their highest level since 2014 (over $67 per barrel), the region nears the end of its transition to summer gasoline, and as refiners wrap up seasonal maintenance.

GasBuddy has confirmed some stations have already raised prices in these areas, and many are likely to follow. Over the next 24-48 hours, average gas prices in Michigan and Indiana will rise to their highest since August 2015, when BP’s Whiting, Indiana refinery had an unexpected outage. Ohio will tie a date in June 2016 along with the August 2015 date.

Motorists needing fuel are advised to shop around today as stations gradually follow one another to the higher price, with some stations typically waiting several hours to follow to give motorists time to fuel up at the lower price. In addition, to cut pump prices further, GasBuddy offers its free Pay with GasBuddy program. Pay with GasBuddy works at gas stations nationwide and offers savings of 10c/gal on the first fill-up and 5c/gal on every fill-up after that.

Head of Petroleum Analysis (USA)

Patrick has developed into the leading source for reliable and accurate information on gas price hikes. Patrick has been interviewed as a gasoline price expert hundreds of times since 2004. Based in Chicago, Patrick brings to GasBuddy all his assets to help consumers by giving reliable and accurate price forecasts, including the San Jose Mercury News dubbing Patrick "one of the nation's most accurate forecasters" in 2012.