Where to Buy Gas

Email | 10/25/10 | Email

[MattAMatt]

Is this valid?

[Responsibility2nd]

Is this valid?

________________________________

It must be. You received it in an email. And I just read it.

[rightly_dividing]

This email is as old as dirt.

[IYAS9YAS]

No.

[PMAS]

Just never buy CITGO

[smokingfrog]

Sounds like an advert. for Walmart - Murphy oil.

Citgo does get its oil from Venezuela, I believe, but it is refined here.

[b4its2late]

It’s old.

[Codeflier]

Oil is fungible. Prices go up or down for all oil no matter where it comes from. You can’t really do targeted boycotts for commodities.

[PMAS]

By the way, this email is about 2 years old at least.
I just try to buy from American oil companies - you just don’t know what the real statistics - at least most of the monet stays in the US

[Hodar]

Do each of these fuel stations have their own oil refinery? Somehow, I sincerely doubt it. My understanding is that each gas station buys their fuel through a distributor, at the cheapest rate they can find.

The refineries buy the raw product, at the international rate. This is the latest data I have on who is selling the US oil. Source

[Fundamentally Fair]

Snopes says false: http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/saudigas.asp

[PMAS]

CITGO is owned by the Venezuelan government or Chavez directly

[cajuncow]

Citgo has a refinery in Lake Charles, LA.

[mnehring]

Is this valid?

I don't believe so. Most crude is bought on the open, auction markets irrespective of the country of origin (upstream). The companies such as Exxon/Mobile then refine it and sell it as petrol(downstream). At the refineries, you could have a mix of origin. The only part of that which may be accurate would be CITGO which controls both upstream and downstream (ie the Venezuelan government owns both the drilling and refining capacity).

I believe small producers like Murphy just contribute to the upstream totals but it all goes into the big mix (for lack of a better term) that everyone buys from. I seriously doubt Wal Mart buys all its gas from Murphy. At that, some checking and it seems Murphy only operates in 23 states. It also looks like Murphy is vested in Middle Eastern drilling as well so they are just part of the group that does import from the ME according to their own site.

http://www.murphyoilcorp.com/about/default.aspx

Just add that info you received to one more thing on the Internet that isn't accurate.

[thackney]

Very old and very fake

[deport]

Here’s an Oct. 2007 version of this email:

http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/foreignoil.html

Here’s Snopes response:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/saudigas.asp

[seemoAR]

Walmart gas is ethanol enhanced around here. Cost less but miles per gallon goes down.

[IYAS9YAS]

Here’s an example for you - all the fuel that comes into the fuel terminal in Boise, Idaho, comes in via pipeline from Salt Lake City - as I understand it, none of the oil refined at this SLC refinery is from the middle-east, but it is from the northwest (including Canada). The fuel at the terminal in Boise is exactly the same. Unless the fuel has been trucked in from somewhere else, all fuel deliveries for all fuel retailers in the Boise area (including some in eastern Oregon) come from this terminal. The fuel sits in big tanks. The only thing that distinguishes one brand from another is the mix of chemicals (Techron, Clean System 3, etc...) added to the fuel as it is delivered from the terminal to the truck for delivery. Many of the smaller or unbranded stations don’t get these additional chemicals added, and pass on the savings to you.

[mc5cents]

Most people I know buy gas where it is sold at the lowest price. Around here in the Buffalo, NY area I buy my gas at Delta Sonic Car Wash stations. It is always the lowest. I have no idea where the gas comes from nor do I care.

[MattAMatt]

Thank you