Gas prices swing wildly

Gas prices in South Carolina have erratically moved downward in recent days, dropping as low as $2.89 a gallon at the Dodge's Chicken and gas store in Red Top.

Less than a mile away at the Kangaroo Express, the price is 40 cents more, $3.29 a gallon.

Experts say the state is seeing the effects of a multi-pronged collision in which falling barrel prices overseas, the failing economy at home and an easing of supply problems after the Gulf of Mexico hurricanes are combining to play havoc at the pumps.

Prices are swinging so wildly that gas chains must try on a daily basis to figure out what the local market will bear. The only silver lining for the average driver is the plunge is coming at the same time the national economic crunch forced people off the road.

"I wouldn't call it a glut, but there's clearly less demand," said Carol Gifford of AAA Carolinas. "Prices are not falling for good reasons," she said, "it's a by-product of the economy."

Also, the interruption in the nation's refinery schedules caused by this summer's hurricane scares is improving — in favor of the consumer — as more gas is put into the national fuel stream.

"We're still not at full supply," said Michael Fields, executive director of the S.C. Petroleum Marketers Association, but the supply is better today than it has been at any point in the last four weeks, he said.

Prices are just as low on the Grand Strand, which is empty of summer tourists.

Read more in tomorrow's editions of The Post and Courier.