Blog | $1.61 gas in Charleston area. Why don’t we see those prices in Myrtle Beach?
Another day, and another big drop in oil prices, this time to below $50 per barrel. (It’s getting so low it is leading to a big Wall Street sell-off today.)
That means the price of oil has been cut in half in a matter of months.
It also means that already low gas prices - nearing the $2 per gallon mark in the Myrtle Beach area - are poised to fall more.
Falling gas prices have already set a new AAA record and shaved $1.15 off the average since late September.
Not to look a gift horse in the mouth or to underestimate how great these already low prices are - I no longer gulp every time I head to the gas station - but I’ve wondered why prices aren’t even lower, especially in the Myrtle Beach area, which often boasted among the lowest prices not only in South Carolina, but in the nation.
The family and I spent a day in Charleston yesterday, mostly at Charles Towne Landing state park.
As we drove around Charleston and North Charleston, I noticed plenty of stations selling gas for less than $2 per gallon, with one as low as $1.61 - or about 49 cents per gallon less than we paid to fill up the tank before we left the Myrtle Beach area Sunday morning.
That’s the first time I’ve seen such a dramatic difference in prices between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. For the longest time, it was cheaper to fill up here first.
What gives now?
Gas experts tried to explain why South Carolina no longer has the lowest prices.
But it doesn’t explain the Charleston-Myrtle Beach difference. Maybe there is no good explanation.
This story was originally published January 5, 2015 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Blog | $1.61 gas in Charleston area. Why don’t we see those prices in Myrtle Beach?."