Columbia gas prices soar to near record high as summer travel season approaches. What to know
Gasoline prices jumped close to record levels in Columbia Wednesday morning, and with summer travel season nearing, it’s likely costs will rise more, experts say.
The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline hit $4.10 in Columbia — a mere $0.10 from the record high of $4.20 reported on Sept. 15, 2008, according to AAA South Carolina. The Wednesday price was higher than the $4.06 a gallon average cost on Tuesday and the $2.72 cost a year ago.
Columbia’s gas price hike is in keeping with jumps in state and national average fuel costs.
South Carolina had an average of $4.10 a gallon Wednesday morning, while the national average hit a new record of $4.40 a gallon.
According to a statement from GasBuddy.com, gas prices across the nation could continue to climb through Memorial Day as summer road trip season begins and oil prices remain volatile.
“There’s little, if any, good news about fuel prices heading into summer, and the problem could become worse should we see an above average hurricane season, which could knock out refinery capacity at a time we badly need it as refined product inventories continue to plummet,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a press release.
Fuel prices in the U.S. and Columbia dropped slightly after spiking in March as the situation between Russia and Ukraine continued, but simmered. Prices began to rise again over the last few weeks as the odds of the European Union sanctioning Russian oil increased, GasBuddy said.
In the last seven days, the national average rose more than $0.15 a gallon. Diesel prices have also continued to surge in recent weeks, not only setting a new record for the difference to gasoline, but outright highs.
“Liquid fuels have turned into liquid gold, with prices for gasoline and diesel spiraling out of control with little power to harness them as the imbalance between supply and demand globally continues to widen with each passing day,” De Haan said. “Russia’s oil increasingly remains out of the market, crimping supply while demand rebounds ahead of the summer driving season.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 9:33 AM.
