Gas is Not 7.89 in Albuquerque
The Claim
Unleaded gas prices are at $7.89 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
News posted on
Emerging story
On March 21, 2021, Facebook user Tammy Lee Lee posted a photo of a Maverik gas station in Albuquerque, New Mexico with a price per gallon of $7.89 for unleaded fuel. The photo is captioned “😲👎🏻🤯 Awful - Thanks Sleepy Jo 🙄 NOT 😡.” The photo is dated 3-19-2021.
The photo was shared nearly a thousand times on Facebook with users calling the prices "criminal” and "outrageous."
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found this claim to be fake.
On March 19, 2021, the average price per gallon of regular gas in Albuquerque, New Mexico was $2.79.
The highest gas price in the last 36 hours in Albuquerque was $2.99 at a Chevron gas station. This number is far off from the $7.89 price seen in the photo.
According to Politifact, a cashier at a Maverik gas station, Joanna Archuleta, said that the sign with a price of $7.89 per gallon is at a Maverik gas station that hasn’t opened yet. She confirmed that the photo is real, but the price is not. When the gas station does open and customers are able to buy gas there, it will reflect the correct price. At Joanna’s store, the price is $2.78 a gallon for regular unleaded, in line with the average gas prices for the rest of Albuquerque.
