GasBuddy.com: Surge in gas prices will soon be over

CHICAGO (WITI) -- Three cheers! It appears the surge in gasoline prices across the Great Lakes states is soon to be over. For the last four consecutive trading sessions, spot gasoline prices (which influence retail) have dropped a healthy amount.

The sudden change comes as ExxonMobil reports its Joliet, Illinois refinery back online, and with it, an expected increase in gasoline production. Perhaps the best news was from the Energy Information Administration, highlighting a healthy increase in the amount of gasoline supply in the region, likely as motorists curb their consumption of record high priced gasoline.

"The last seven days have seen some shocks at the pump for motorists in the nation's Great Lakes region," said GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan. "But perhaps the best news is that the worst is now over and we expect some well needed relief in the days ahead for areas of the Great Lakes, especially Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio, where prices could fall 15-30c/gallon in the next week," DeHaan said.

GasBuddy operates MilwaukeeGasPrices.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 25 million times to help motorists find the lowest gasoline prices in their area.