SC has some of the steepest gas price spikes in nation
It’s not your imagination. Gas prices have skyrocketed since Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast and shutdown refining and pipeline operations. And according to Patrick DeHaan, of Gas Buddy, it’s not over yet.
Wednesday evening, Colonial Pipeline, which supplies gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to the the East Coast, announced it expects to temporarily suspend its pipeline operations.
The steepest price hike since last week was recorded by Gas Buddy, in Greenville, SC, where the average price of a gallon of gas was $2.46, up .379 cents. Spartanburg came in #3 with a .302 cents hike, followed by Rock Hill at #5 with a hike of .30 cents. Columbia came in at #18 with a hike of .249 cents a gallon.
Top 25 #gasprice spikes since last week by city, five of 30c/gal or more. And it's not over yet, folks... pic.twitter.com/jwqpPT7mPz
— Patrick DeHaan ⛽️ (@GasBuddyGuy) August 31, 2017
The AAA warned motorists that tightened access to gas supplies just as the nation enters the Labor Day holiday weekend means “motorists may not have seen the full impact of Harvey at the pump.”
The good news is that Gulf Coast refineries are not expected to be off-line for long and gasoline inventories are at historically high levels, the AAA’s Carolina spokeswoman, Tiffany Wright, said in a news release. Plus, the EPA announced a waiver allowing retailers to sell “winter blend” gasoline early in several states including South Carolina.
And, despite the sudden price hikes in South Carolina, the state still has some of the cheapest gas in the nation.
This story was originally published August 31, 2017 at 5:38 PM with the headline "SC has some of the steepest gas price spikes in nation."