S.C. gas prices jump to highest point this year

Gasoline prices are on the rise in South Carolina, with Monday’s average jumping to the highest point so far this year.

According to GasBuddy.com, the average price of gasoline jumped 3.5 cents in the last week in South Carolina to $1.93 per gallon.

The latest jump pushed prices to the highest point of 2016 across the state, but still down 32 cents from this week last year, according to GasBuddy. Gas prices have been climbing in South Carolina every week since late Febuary, when the average price was $1.49.

In Beaufort County, the average price of gas reported Monday was $1.94 per gallon, while prices in Jasper County jumped to $2.02.

Gas prices are on the rise throughout the country, driven by rising crude oil prices and rising U.S. demand.

Accross the U.S., the average price of gas this week is $2.14 per gallon, down 38 cents from last year’s year-to-datye average of $2.52

“ Leading the demand surge has been gasoline, where the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows year-to-date demand to be up 3.4 percent from last year and up 7.4 percent from 2014 according to their ‘product supplied’ demand indicator,” said Will Speer, a Houston-based senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.

South Carolina is one of 13 states GasBuddy calls “the lucky 13” with prices averaging below $2. California leads the nation with an average price of $2.77. South Carolina is the sixth least expensive state for gasoline.

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 7:47 AM with the headline "S.C. gas prices jump to highest point this year."