Gas prices are rising again in SC. Here are the most, least expensive places
Average gas prices in Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head, two of the state’s biggest summer travel regions, are nearing $3 per gallon with many weeks still left to go for summer travel, according to GasBuddy.
In just a week, average gas prices in Myrtle Beach jumped 9.5 cents to $2.88 per gallon, reports GasBuddy, which surveys gas prices at thousands of gas stations nationwide on a daily basis.
Myrtle Beach’s increase mirrored a similar rise in the Hilton Head-Bluffton region a few weeks ago, when average prices jumped 7 cents in a single day. Hilton Head’s average price now sits at $2.94.
Statewide, the average price is $2.85 a gallon, 4.5 cents higher than last week.
High gas prices are not exclusive to the coastal metros. Florence and Greenville also have some of the highest average prices in the state right now, according to GasBuddy.
If prices reach $3 per gallon, they would be some of the highest prices South Carolina has seen since 2012. The recent round of increases is the second major spike of this year. The Colonial Pipeline hack in May led to similar drastic increases as a result of panic buying.
The weekend of July 4 was this summer’s peak of gasoline consumption so far nationwide.
“While the national average has seen a slight rise over the last week, we may see some stabilization coming to the pump as oil prices hold just under their 2021 peak from last week,” GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan said in a statement.
Here’s where average gas prices sit in South Carolina, from most to least expensive areas. Plus, here’s how much the prices have risen in the last week.
- Hilton Head: $2.94 (+4 cents)
- Myrtle Beach: $2.89 (+10 cents)
- Florence: $2.86 (+5 cents)
- Greenville: $2.85 (+13 cents)
- Charleston: $2.85 (+3 cents)
- Aiken: $2.84 (+6 cents)
- Spartanburg: $2.83 (+6 cents)
- Columbia: $2.82 (+6 cents)
- Rock Hill: $2.79 (+10 cents)
Summer travel demand is likely to keep prices higher for several more weeks, GasBuddy and tourism experts say.
“However, with U.S. gasoline demand falling slightly last week, we may have already seen peak consumption with the July 4 holiday,” De Haan said in a statement. “While the jury isn’t quite in on that just yet, we’re potentially only 4-6 weeks away from gas prices beginning a seasonal decline that we’re likely all eagerly awaiting.”
South Carolina hasn’t seen gas prices this high in years, thanks to the domestic oil boom that began about a decade ago. The main stopgaps keeping oil prices down were fracking companies, which would ramp up drilling for shale oil any time prices started to rise sharply, The Wall Street Journal reported.
For much of this year, however, those same fracking companies have spent the extra money they get from high oil prices toward paying down debt and giving money to investors, rather than expanding their drilling operations that could lower prices, The Journal reported.
Adding to the high prices, South Carolina’s gas tax rose again July 1 by 2 cents. The total fuel tax now sits at 26 cents per gallon after four years of increases. One final 2 cent increase will go into effect next year. The federal gas tax, on the other hand, has not changed in 28 years, and President Joe Biden recently objected to raising it to help pay for his upcoming infrastructure plan.
