Bottom line: A viral image of a Sunoco price board in northwest Ohio showing regular gas at $9.99 reflected an out-of-service display caused by an empty tank, not an actual nationwide or state-level price spike. Newsweek verified the location (Sunoco, 4541 US-20, Gibsonburg, OH) and found nearby posted prices around $4.50–$4.90 per gallon. The $9.99 reading matches a known practice used when pumps or grades are unavailable, as seen during the 2021 Colonial Pipeline disruption.
Viral Photo Showing $9.99 Gas in Ohio Explained: Empty Tank, Not Statewide Price Surge
A screenshot of the Sunoco station which features in the now-viral post on X, captured in September 2025.
A viral social media image that appeared to show regular gasoline for sale at $9.99 per gallon at a rural Ohio Sunoco station did not reflect an actual sale price, Newsweek found. Instead, the station’s price board displayed $9.99 because a pump or grade was out of service after the site ran low on fuel.
Gas prices have risen across the United States since the outbreak of the Iran war on February 28. According to AAA, the national average climbed roughly 50 percent over that period to about $4.48 per gallon as of Sunday, contributing to consumer strain and political ramifications ahead of this year’s elections.
How the Viral Claim Was Verified
The X post — viewed more than 770,000 times by Sunday — included photos of a price sign showing diesel at $6.89 and regular gasoline at $9.99. That reading would have been well above Ohio’s statewide average of $4.53 per gallon and inconsistent with typical price relationships (diesel generally being more expensive than regular).
Newsweek used visual clues in the images — a road sign pointing to Genoa and Elmore — to place the photo in Ottawa County, Ohio. GasBuddy reported nearby posted prices on Saturday of about $4.57 in Genoa and $4.89 in Elmore. The station was identified as the Sunoco at 4541 US-20, Gibsonburg, OH 43431. Google Maps listed its 24-hour averages on Sunday as roughly $4.50 for regular, $5.30 for premium and $6.90 for diesel.
Station Employee Confirms: Tank Was Empty
When contacted, a station employee said the $9.99 price displayed because that pump (or that grade) was out of service after the tank ran empty. Retail price boards often default to a high number such as $9.99 when operators need to indicate an unavailable grade but the display is limited to three digits or cannot show a custom "out of service" message.
Stations can run short of specific fuel grades for several reasons, including sudden local demand spikes, delivery delays or inventory-management errors. A similar pattern was documented after the 2021 Colonial Pipeline cyberattack, when outlets also showed $9.99 on signs because pumps were offline or tanks were depleted.
Context: Ohio’s statewide average for regular unleaded rose from about $2.76 before the first joint U.S.-Israeli strikes of Operation Epic Fury on February 28 to roughly $4.53 per gallon — an increase of about 64 percent — but the viral image reflected a local inventory issue, not an extreme statewide price level.
The person who posted the images, Ohio lawyer and commentator Tom Renz, later acknowledged that the station might have been out of fuel but said he shared the photos because he found them striking and unusual. While geopolitical tensions have pushed prices up nationwide, this image is best explained by a local out-of-service display rather than a genuine $9.99 price for regular gasoline.
Contact: Newsweek reached out to the poster and the station as part of this verification. Readers should treat single photos of price boards with caution and check local price-tracking services like GasBuddy or Google Maps for posted station prices before drawing broader conclusions.
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