WHITING — A power outage at the Midwest's largest oil refinery could result in gas prices going up.

The BP oil refinery located in the northwest Indiana town of Whiting was shut down Thursday, January 1 and their employees were evacuated.

The Associated Press reported that BP spokesperson Christina Audisho said the power was back on Friday, January 2 at the refinery following the outage, and the refinery’s office buildings and nearby roads had reopened.

She said that “operations have been stabilized at the refinery.”

Audisho also said all refinery staff were accounted for and no injuries were reported.

However, experts believe the shutdown could result in a price hike at the pump.

GasBuddy’s Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick DeHaan said prices at the pump could go up to $3.19 or as high as $3.29 a gallon.

BP states online their Whiting Refinery is located 17 miles southeast of downtown Chicago.

The Whiting location is able to process around 440,000 barrels of crude oil every day.

They also produce a wide range of liquid fuels, along with 7% of all asphalt in the United States.