Domestic gasoline prices have risen for the seventh straight week, approaching an average one-thousand-610 won per liter.

According to Opinet, a Web site on oil price information run by the Korea National Oil Corporation, the price of regular gasoline sold at gas stations nationwide rose by an average four-point-seven won to over one-thousand-609 won per liter in the first week of June.

The price has been rising since the third week of April and has now reached the highest level since the end of 2014. 

Compared to the lowest level in the past three years recorded in March 2016, when the average gasoline price was about one-thousand-340 won, the cost has soared 20 percent.

The National Oil Corporation said that global oil prices have fallen due to increased crude oil production and inventory in the United States as well as talks of a possible production hike by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

But the corporation said the rise in domestic oil prices is expected to continue for the time being as it takes time for global costs to generate effects at home.  

In Korea, gasoline prices rose for a record 29 consecutive weeks until the second week of February. Prices then declined until the third week of April before starting to climb again.