LINCOLN- Gas prices have spiked as much as 40 cents a gallon in the past week in Nebraska, but an analyst said the increase should be short-lived. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of unleaded gas in Nebraska as of Monday was $3.83 a gallon, up 28 cents from a week ago. But some individual markets have gone up even more in Omaha and Lincoln.

Nebraska isn't the only Midwestern state to see price spikes. Iowa's average price as of Monday was 38 cents higher than a week ago, while Minnesota's was up 36 cents and North Dakota's 30 cents. The culprit appears to be a refinery outage, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis."Still piecing together exactly what's gone wrong to cause a huge spike in gas prices in the corn belt states, but it involves more than 1 refinery, bad timing, and issues outside the region exacerbating it," De Haan said.

Brian Ortner, a spokesman for AAA Nebraska, said there was some scheduled maintenance at a refinery in Minnesota last week that may have contributed to the quick rise in prices, which he called "uncommon but not unprecedented." He also said other factors, such as a rise in the price of oil, also were contributing to the increase. De Haan expects prices to lower within a week or two.

For the full article click HERE