GAS PRICES SOAR; Local average price for unleaded nears record.

Byline: BOB LANG AND JONATHAN MAZE Of The Post and Courier Staff

Charleston-area gas prices have entered near-record territory after soaring 19 cents per gallon in the past month - and another increase is expected soon. The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties is $1.50, according to a survey completed Monday by American Automobile Association Carolinas. That's below the national average of $1.62 a gallon according to AAA and $1.67 according to the Lundberg Survey. Yet the price is approaching the highest recorded average in the Lowcountry, $1.53 on June 28, 2000, said AAA Carolinas spokeswoman Jacquie Hughett. "Unfortunately we don't see any relief in sight," she said. Prices have been rising quickly. At the new Costco in West Ashley, a gallon of regular unleaded cost $1.42.9 Monday morning. By Monday afternoon, the price had jumped to $1.47.9. At Stanley's Amoco on Maybank Highway, manager Walter Stanley said there's been three increases in the last week, putting prices at $1.54 for a gallon of regular unleaded. He also expects another increase, as the warm weather and summer vacation put more people on the road. "It's going to get worse before it gets better," he said. "This is the time of year gas companies make money." The price of gas in the Charleston area has jumped 70 percent in two years, since March 1999 when the average was 88 cents. A month ago the average was $1.31. What's causing the rise in prices? Hughett said it's a combination of reasons. "OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) is threatening to cut production by 4 percent, which would be a million barrels a day," she said. "Two, there's been a softening of the economy. ...