Why are gas prices so high in Myrtle Beach? Shouldn’t they have gone down by now?
Gas prices in Myrtle Beach now average $3.05 per gallon, the highest since 2014, despite the slowdown in travel after summer ended.
What’s happening?
In just the last week, the region’s gas prices rose 11.3 cents per gallon, based on a survey of 197 pumps by GasBuddy. That increase is more than double the increase seen nationwide, which was an average of 5.2 cents.
Gas prices in Myrtle Beach also sit about 5 cents per gallon higher than South Carolina as a whole but are equivalent to North Carolina. Our northern neighbor also has an average price per gallon of $3.05.
Gas prices first jumped this year during the Colonial Pipeline hack, which resulted in panic-buying and gas crunches across the Southeast.
The current high prices are happening as hotel and vacation rental occupancy continues to decline in Myrtle Beach since the end of the traditional vacation season. Most weeks see just 50%-60% occupancy now, according to data from the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, indicating a sharp decline in the number of people visiting the area. Considering that Myrtle Beach is primarily a drive-to destination, it’s reasonable that a drop in visitors would correspond with a decline in demand for gas and a fall in prices.
Yet that decreased demand hasn’t translated to the pump.
The prices can primarily be attributed to decisions made by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. The group has outsize influence on oil prices around the world and as a result largely controls the price of gasoline.
The last time the organization agreed to increase oil and gas production was in July, despite demand continuing to rise in countries such as the U.S., which are farther along in their recovery from COVID-19.
Because production of oil and gas hasn’t been increasing, West Texas Intermediate crude oil, an important benchmark for energy prices in both the U.S. and around the globe, passed $80 per barrel. That price is a crucial benchmark that has rarely been touched since the end of the Oil Price War in 2016.
“The OPEC decision caused an immediate reaction in oil prices, and amidst what is turning into a global energy crunch, motorists are now spending over $400 million more on gasoline every single day than they were just a year ago,” GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan said in a press release. “The problems continue to relate to a surge in demand as the global economy recovers, combined with deep cuts to production from early in the pandemic. If Americans can’t slow their appetite for fuels, we’ve got no place for prices to go but up.”
Will the prices go back down? It depends.
If OPEC allows for increased production, that could have a quick calming effect on gas prices, experts say. As a stopgap, the federal Department of Energy has flirted with releasing oil from the nation’s strategic reserves. However, Reuters reported last week that outcome is unlikely at the moment.
This story was originally published October 12, 2021 at 1:09 PM.
