A Murphy Express store in Las Cruces, N.M., kicked off its grand opening by offering the "lowest gas prices in the state,” the Las Cruces Sun News reported.
Beginning at 12:01 a.m. this past Friday and continuing for 24 hours, Patel said the station sold fuel as low as $1.39 per gallon.
Patel couldn’t estimate how many gallons had been sold, but by 3 p.m. that day the station’s fuel tanks had been refilled four times. Las Cruces police reported no major incidents but did get complaints of traffic jams near the station, spokesman Dan Trujillo told the Sun News.
Rumors that Murphy Express would sell gas for 78 cents per gallon during the 24-hour sale may have fueled the abundance of motorists who clogged Avenida de Mesilla and South Valley Drive, according to Andrew Fear of Imagineering Productions, a marketing firm promoting the oil company.
"People were sending text messages to people all over town that we would have gas for 78 cents," Fear told the newspaper.
There are more than 1,000 Murphy Express locations in 22 states nationwide. By offering such low gas prices, Fear said the company "is actually losing money by giving back to the community."
