WHITING, Ind. (WOWO): BP has confirmed that its refinery in Whiting has been safely restarted. As a result, GasBuddy.com is predicting a steep decline in the price of gas throughout the Midwest.

Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan says, as long as operations at the refinery continue with no new problems, gas prices in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and neighboring states affected by the refinery could fall 20 to 50 cents a gallon over the next two weeks. 

“As gas stations buy cheaper gasoline, they will pass savings along to motorists, but they will also attempt to recoup margin losses sustained from the unprecedented spike in wholesale prices that occurred two weeks ago,” DeHaan says.

An “unplanned outage” on August 8th at the refinery caused prices to jump up to 80 cents in some places.