When oil prices dropped toward $45 in early February, gasoline prices followed, moving below $2 a gallon in some parts of the country. Now crude prices have dropped below $45 and gas will follow them down rapidly. As a matter of fact, in some cities, gas prices are only pennies away from dropping below $2.

Of the five cities where the price of an average gallon of regular has fallen below $2.12, according to GasBuddy, four are in South Carolina. South Carolina has the lowest average price among all states as well, at $2.10. In Spartanburg, the price has dropped to $2.04, in Greenville $2.06 and in Columbia and Myrtle Beach to $2.11. The only other city among the group of five is Chattanooga, Tenn., where the average price of gas is $2.06. Spartanburg, Greenville and Columbia sit in a small cluster northeast of Atlanta.

Gas prices in the South Carolina cities almost certainly are helped by a cluster of six refineries in Charlotte and one in Greenville. The location of these could affect the transportation cost of gas, which is one of the largest components of price. Chattanooga has the similar advantage of a refinery near the city.

Another factor that has kept gas prices low in South Carolina is the “motor fuel tax,” as the American Petroleum Institute calls it. South Carolina’s is the third lowest in the country, at $0.3315 a gallon. Some proof of the tax effect on gas prices is that two of the states with the highest gas prices — New York and California — have the second- and third-highest gas taxes. In each case, the figure is just below $0.64 a gallon.

Gas tax levels and proximity to refineries help drive gas prices down. However, oil prices are the primary component of the price of gasoline. And, if oil stays well below $50, cities beyond a few in Tennessee and South Carolina will have sub-$2 gas prices again.

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