COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) – A price glitch caused sticker-shock at some local gas pumps Friday night. Drivers in Columbus and Harris County were shocked to see regular gas priced at over $7 a gallon at Shell stations.

A Columbus Shell employee told WRBL News 3 prices are mandated by Shell corporate, not individual stores. At around 8:00 p.m. on March 4, prices shot up for about 40 minutes due a glitch in the system.

Regular gas prices have now returned to under $4.00 a gallon.

According to GasBuddy, prices have spiked across the country due to the Russian war on Ukraine as sanctions cripple Russia’s ability to export crude oil, spiking gas prices by nearly 41 cents in the last seven days alone. 

As of Friday, the weekly rise in gas prices was the second largest ever, following the rise of 49 cents per gallon during the week of September 3, 2005.

To find the low gas prices in your area using GasBuddy click here and type in your zip code.