BLOOMINGTON - The prices consumers pay for gas the next 10 days could be the highest they pay all year, one analyst said Wednesday.

Gas prices held steady as travelers hit the highways over the Fourth of July holiday last week, but they're rising sharply this week amidst problems at refineries in Kansas, Oklahoma and Indiana.

After dipping to around $2.85 a gallon last week, regular unleaded spiked to $3.29 in Bloomington-Normal Wednesday. Prices started rising Monday, jumping to $3.10 before rising to $3.19 Tuesday night.

"As soon as the refinery problems are resolved, we expect to see prices go back down," said Doug MacIntyre, a senior analyst with the federal Energy Information Administration in Washington D.C.

In the meantime, however, costs could increase, he said.

Flooding closed a refinery in Coffeyville, Kan. this week. There is no timeline for reopening the 108,000 barrel-per-day facility, where damage is still being assessed, a spokesman said.

With water still standing in parts of the refinery, production "could be out for a while," MacIntyre said.

Problems at a Valero refinery in Ardmore, Okla., and a BP refinery in Whiting, Ind., near Chicago, have also disrupted gasoline stocks in the midwest, said Nicole Niemi, a spokeswoman for the AAA-Chicago Motor Club, which tracks gas prices.

As refinery problems persist, Midwesterners are stuck paying higher than normal gas prices, while the rest of the country has seen much smaller increases than the 10-cent daily jumps in Bloomington-Normal. Prices only increased an average 2.5 cents nationally on Wednesday, according to AAA data.

"The areas closest to the refiners will see the bulk of the impact," MacIntyre said. "Nationally, we think we're going to see prices go up but not hit the peaks we saw before Memorial Day."

On May 22, regular unleaded rose to a record-high $3.46 per gallon in the Twin Cities.

While MacIntyre said those prices are history, Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service told the Associated Press that prices could be the higher in the next 10 days than they'll be all year. Regular unleaded could hit $3.50, he said.

"Coffeyville lit the fuse," Kloza said, referencing the floods in Kansas.

Before the shutdown, Coffeyville accounted for about one-seventh of the refining capacity in the Great Plains, he said.