The staff at Chronic Kings Dispensary and Gas Station on Lomas and Arnold street were tired of seeing neighbors struggle with record high gas prices, so with 5,000 gallons waiting in the tanks, they decided to help out.

"It's mainly just to give back to the people and try to help them out just for a few hours," says Chronic Kings CEO Dominic Holguin, who mentioned to local news he expected the whole city to show up.

"They're upset about it, we're upset about it, that's kind of the reason we're doing this event."

Years of falling investment in and government antagonism on oil drilling and refining in the West had, by January of 2022, placed the global oil market on course for record-high profits as developing-world demand continued growing while production lagged behind.