A glitch at one station in the Pacific Northwest sells gas for only 46 cents per gallon as gas across the United States continues to plunge.
A gas system error at an Arco station in Yakima, Washington has led the prices for gas to drop to rock-bottom levels on Saturday night.
In one photo published by KIMA-TV, a pump with a cost of $0.46 a gallon was captured, causing the station to be swarmed with customers.
The error spread throughout social media with most consumers excited to take advantage of the situation while others lamented how people “came together to rip off a business.”
Moreover, amid the controversy, the owners of the gas station claimed that they were not able to estimate how long the glitch was active. However, the station confirmed on Sunday morning that the issue had been resolved.
In November, a station in Los Angeles also reportedly sold gas for $0.45 a gallon.
In an interview with a customer, Michael Arteaga, said that “he had bought 15 gallons of gas for $7.20, which was less than some stations in California were charging for a single gallon at the time.”
Furthermore, the word about the low prices spread quickly, leading to huge lines of customers hoping to fill up at the station and immediately after that, police came to the scene to investigate what was causing the lines of cars.
On Tuesday, Natural gas futures reportedly surged by 7% to close at $9.33 per million British thermal unit (BTU), the highest closing price since August 1, 2008.
“We’ve had this perma-heat wave cooking the United States,” Robert Yawger, vice president of energy futures at Mizuho Securities said.
“Depending on the weather, it could be a challenging winter. But not as challenging as in Europe. They are at risk of running out of natural gas. We aren’t.” said Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital Advisors.
In a report released by CNN, it was revealed that “The European Union has been forced to lay plans to ration natural gas, a drastic step that will hurt families and businesses. Natural gas prices have skyrocketed so high in Europe that it threatens to send the continent’s economy into recession.”
