(WXYZ) — Drivers throughout metro Detroit are seeing a big jump in gas prices on Monday morning. Prices have been rising for six straight days after declining for nearly 100 days in a row.
AAA Michigan said the statewide average is now $3.97 per gallon, which is up 17 cents in the last week and 73 cents higher than this time last year.
Prices in metro Detroit are even more – $4.05 per gallon, up 14 cents from a week ago.
Since mid-June, prices have been falling. Back then, the average price in Michigan was around $5.22.
That's because supply started to go up and demand was low, there were growing concerns of a global recession leading many people to cut back, many were still working remotely, and the strong dollar helped bring down price of crude oil.
So what's changed since then? The biggest reason is a fire at an oil refinery near Toledo last week that left two people dead and forced the BP facility to shut down.
It's not clear when the facility will be up and running but till then, people will have to loosen up their wallets or get creative.
