EXPERT OPINION: WHY GAS PRICES ARE RISING

While they might not seem cheap, gasoline prices have actually fallen since 2012.  But experts are warning drivers to get ready to pay more at the pump.  To find out what causes gas prices to spike, Parksplug reached out to oil industry analyst Marcus Danderlog.  Here’s his explanation:  

“First, we’re getting kind of close to the time of year that we

change from the winter blend of gasoline to the summer blend, which requires a lot of blending.  Plus mixing.  Mixing and blending.  
They even have to hand-stir it with a large boat oar which is very labor intensive.  The summer blend also has more summery stuff in it which costs more but helps reduce emissions like nitrous oxide.  That’s laughing gas, and we don’t want laughing gas in our air.  Also, a couple hundred people who got laid off during the recession found new jobs, so they’re driving more and that affects supply.  And then, there’s maintenance.  We hate to do it, but we usually have to perform maintenance on all the refineries at the same time for some reason, so there’s another supply issue.  And, oh yeah, one time there was a fire at a refinery and we had to raise prices.”