Gas prices creep up in Myrtle Beach as Thanksgiving travel holiday approaches
It was likely an innocent mistake, but the sign next to a Circle K on Highway 501 for days said gas cost $8.19 per gallon.
The actual price of gas at that station was $3.19, but the sign’s error was foreboding considering the way gas prices have shot up this year.
Gone are the days when gas was so cheap you could fill up a 15-gallon tank for less than $25. The average price per gallon in Myrtle Beach was $3.16 as of Monday, a 10 cent increase in just the past week, according to GasBuddy. Gas prices are also 25 cents higher than a month ago and $1.36 higher than a year ago.
Gas prices first jumped this year during the Colonial Pipeline hack in May, which resulted in panic-buying and gas crunches across the Southeast.
Even if you go hunting around town, you’re not like to save more than a few cents. The cheapest gas station in the region is $2.96, according to GasBuddy.
Nationally, gas prices are up 3.8 cents in the last week, 17 cents in the last month and $1.21 higher than a year ago, according to GasBuddy. In all three measurements, Myrtle Beach is beginning to outpace the nation’s rise in fuel costs. However, Myrtle Beach still sits below the nation’s average price per gallon of $3.36.
“Gas prices continued to soar in a majority of the nation over the last week as oil’s meteoric rise pulls gasoline and other refined product prices higher. But, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel,” GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, Patrick De Haan, said in a statement.
Gasoline prices have been rising quickly for several weeks because of a decision made by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to not increase production of oil since July.
“The sharp rise we’ve seen over the last three weeks should begin slowing down soon, barring another jump in the price of oil. This is because gasoline prices have now largely caught up to the jump in oil that started nearly a month ago,” De Haan said in a statement. “This isn’t an all clear for the future, however, as oil prices could rise again at any time. But for now, oil has held around $83 per barrel, and without a further climb, gas price increases should slow down soon in the bulk of the nation.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
