By Alan Lytle
Lexington, KY – A website service that tracks retail gas prices across the country says there are a number of factors why pump prices are up some twenty cents to around $2.95 a gallon in Central Kentucky. Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst with Gasbuddy.com says for starters, the Federal Reserve injecting 600 billion dollars into the U-S economy didn't help the situation because that translated into a weaker dollar on the world market.
In addition DeHaan says, "we had a refinery fire in Chicago and while that wasn't a big news story it still rattled traders. It's caused concern because a lot of refiners are down for maintenance right now, at least part of their facilities are down for maintenance. So there's limited abilities to make up for that plant having to shut down because of the fire and third the Department of Energy report released last Wednesday indicated another drop in supply while we are seeing an increase in demand."
DeHaan says the short term prognosis for pump prices may not be all that bad heading into the Holiday season.
"You know I half expect that over the next week, week and a half we'll see prices fall at the pump. Looking forward to Thanksgiving I don't see any reason why prices would be higher for Thanksgiving. This refinery fire will should work its way out for the system. Prices should drop in the Great Lakes area, Kentucky no exception. And so, we should actually see prices fall anywhere from ten to twenty cents here over the next two weeks I would say."
According to Gasbuddy.com prices in Central Kentucky are about 40 cents higher than they were a year ago. They've jumped about 15 cents per gallon over the past month.