A employee at a Northern California gasoline station was fired Monday after he unintentionally charged 69 cents a gallon for premium gas.

A Shell gasoline station in Rancho Cordova misplaced $16,000, in response to KGO-TV, after John Szczecina, who labored as a supervisor for a Shell gasoline station within the metropolis, mistakenly put a decimal level within the mistaken place, and ended up charging 69 cents a gallon of premium, as a substitute of $6.99 a gallon.

"I put all three costs on there, besides the diesel. The final one form of did not go. So, I simply took accountability for it and mentioned yeah, it is my fault, and I am guilty," Szczecina advised ABC Information Fresno station KFSN.

Tons of of drivers took benefit of the drastically diminished gas costs after phrase rapidly unfold on social media.

Drivers referred to as family and friends, and automobiles lined as much as fill their automobiles with low cost gasoline for hours, earlier than the error was found.

U.S. gasoline prices
Man Benhamou sends an image of gasoline costs to mates whereas pumping gasoline at an Exxon Mobil gasoline station on June 09, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Gasoline costs are breaching file highs as demand will increase and provide fails to maintain up. Brandon Bell/Getty Pictures

The previous supervisor's sister, Paula Jackson, has since launched a GoFundMe web page with a $16,000 purpose to assist Szczecina get well as a lot cash as potential.

Szczecina advised ABC Information Fresno station KFSN that he fears he can be sued by the homeowners of the shell station for the error he made.

Enterprise lawyer Craig Zimmerman advised KOVR that Szczecina may very well be shielded from authorized motion.

"The one method he could be accountable, absent a written settlement, is that if he was performing exterior the scope of his employment," Zimmerman advised the information outlet. "For example, if his boss mentioned, 'No matter you do, do not ever set the value on that gasoline pump.' After which he did."

Gasoline costs have been hovering nationwide, notably in the previous few months, following Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in late February.

In a historic first, the price of U.S. gasoline averaged greater than $5 per gallon on June 11, knowledge from AAA confirmed.

As of Wednesday morning, the nationwide common value per gallon of gasoline is $5.014, in response to AAA. In California, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, and Nevada, the value per gallon of premium gas is at the moment above $6.

President Joe Biden is hoping to cut back power costs forward of November's congressional elections. He's visiting the Center East subsequent month, and the journey features a cease within the oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Information of the go to, introduced by the White Home on Tuesday, got here after the group of oil-producing nations referred to as OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia, agreed just lately to ramp up oil manufacturing to assist cut back costs.