INDIANA (WFIE) -
Prices have spiked this week and there are predictions that gas could reach $4 a gallon or higher by summer.
14 News found gas prices on Evansville's West Side to be pretty consistant, $3.69 at a Thornton's station. A little ways down the Lloyd, prices were also $3.69 at a Marathon and Country Mark station.
Once you cross the river and drive down the strip in Henderson, where many expect the prices to be lower, 14 News found drivers could save a few pennies. Prices there range from $3.65 to $3.61 a gallon.
The lowest price 14 News found was not on the strip in Henderson, but further down south at a Swifty on South Green Street, where it's at $3.49 a gallon.
"It's kind of ridiculous when $3.49 is considered cheap. That's really kind of bad," said driver Craig Daniel.
IndianaGasPrices.com, operated by Gasbuddy.com, has released their finding saying "Drivers should be aware of the likelihood of a sharp rise in gasoline prices in the next few days and through the weekend in Indiana.
"I expect stations to increase prices as much as 5 to 20 cents per gallon by the conclusion of the weekend with some stations starting to raise prices immediately," says Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst.
It's bad for those who practically works out of his car and has to furnish his own gas, like Daniel .
"I am a pizza delivery driver, by job. So, that really kind of puts us in a bad spot or everybody who does that kind of job where you have to watch your pennies and pinch them as much as you possibly can," said Daniel.
"I limit my driving some when gas starts going up like $3.60, stuff like that," said driver Thomas Onan.
Onan has been keeping an eye on these numbers and is filling up, before they go up even more.
"Hopefully, we'll find some kind of solution to this, where we can do some off shore drilling or somehow to bring the prices back down," said Onan.
DeHaan warns that a refinery fire in Washington state is boosting prices significantly throughout the entire West Coast region, and rising spot prices in Great Lakes area is boosting prices 30 to 45 cents per gallon today in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky.
Prices have also been reportedly rising fast in New England, Florida, and areas of the East Coast.
Gregg Laskoski, Petroleum Analyst also cites the refinery fire in Washington for an expected jump in California, saying 'prices across the State of California already made significant advances in the prior seven days, and with the refinery fire, motorists should expect prices to rise in similar fashion as last February when the Libyan situation unfolded.'"
"GasBuddy" operates IndianaGasPrices.com and over 250 similar websites that track gasoline prices at over 140,000 gasoline stations in the United States and Canada. In addition, GasBuddy offers a free smartphone app which has been downloaded over 20 million times to help motorists find gasoline prices in their area.
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