As hard as it is for drivers to believe when they are bleeding cash to fill up a vehicle, the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson metro area had the cheapest gasoline prices in the nation Thursday, according to the AAA motor club.
The average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline was $3.836 here -- up 2 cents from a month ago and $1.11 from a year ago, dwarfing the half-cent overnight decline.
Stewart Spinks, chairman of Greenville-based Spinx Oil Co., said he expects gas prices to stabilize somewhat. Motorists have seen slight declines in gas this week. Nationally, supply and demand seem to be working, he said.
"Supply is increasing and demand is decreasing," he said, as people are driving less and reducing their speeds. "The fundamentals indicate the price should go down."
Statewide, the average price Thursday was $3.898 a gallon, down from $3.903 a gallon Wednesday. Missouri had the lowest average price at $3.896, while Alaska had the highest at $4.613. Twelve states reported average statewide prices of less than $4 a gallon.
A major reason South Carolina has relatively lower gas prices is the state and federal tax burden -- 35.2 cents a gallon, fourth-lowest in the country. The highest tax burden is found in California at 74.9 cents a gallon.
The national average of state and federal gas taxes is 49.4 cents a gallon, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
When looking at worldwide gas prices, the United States is far from the most expensive country.
Drivers in Oslo, Norway, spend $9.85 for every gallon of gas they buy, according to a survey by Associates for International Research Inc., a Massachusetts relocation consulting firm. In Paris, gas is almost as expensive at $9.43 a gallon.
But in Caracas, Venezuela, the price of gas is 12 cents a gallon and in Tehran, Iran, it is 41 cents a gallon.
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