Re: [GreenYes] Fw: How To Drive Down Gas Prices

["Darby Hoover" <rpc@econet.org>]

Here is a response from my father (an oil analyst with Gate Petroleum in
Jacksonville, so the references included make more sense) to the email
referenced below:

Several of you have forwarded me an e-mail that is being widely circulated
advocating not buying gasoline from companies that purchase crude oil from
Saudi Arabia and other countries that support terrorism.

While one cannot argue with the concept, implementation is impossible for
several reasons:
  a.. Crude oil is not like breakfast cereal, shampoo and other items that
might sit on a shelf if consumers chose another brand.  The amount of crude
oil being produced in the world (at least when OPEC has its act together) is
very close to the amount of oil being consumed.  If a U.S. refiner decides
to buy barrels from Mexico instead of from Saudi Arabia, then some other
refiner that might have purchased the Mexican oil will then have to buy the
Saudi oil.  In other words, some one will have to buy the Saudi oil.
  b.. Even if a refiner does not purchase crude oil directly from the
Saudis, it may end up with Saudi oil.  It takes 6 weeks to move oil cargos
from the Middle East to the Texas/Louisiana Gulf Coast.  The cargos may be
traded 5 or 6 times from one company to another during that period.
  c.. Even if one could accurately identify refiners that use Saudi oil, it
is impossible for a consumer (or for Gate) to identify the origin of the
crude oil used to make gasoline we purchase at a terminal.  For example the
Exxon gasoline in Jax does not come from an Exxon refinery but either from
the Hess refinery in St. Croix or a Chevron refinery in Texas or Louisiana.
In Jax, Hess, Citgo, Exxon and Shell gasoline all come out of the Hess
terminal.  In Tampa, Exxon and BP/Amoco gasoline come out of the Marathon
terminal.  Marathon gets its gasoline from a variety of sources.
  d.. Throughout the Midwest , Southeast and MId-Atlantic regions gasoline
moves to terminals via pipelines.  Often the product is traded during the 14
days it takes to move gasoline from Houston to New York harbor.
  e.. Gasoline in the tanks at terminals are often a mixture of shipments
received from a variety of sources.  If BP is running low in Jax and their
cargo is delayed, they may swap with Chevron here and pay Chevron back with
a similar amount of gasoline in New Orleans.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Darby Hoover                          rpc@econet.org
Executive Director                 www.papercoalition.org
Recycled Paper Coalition


----- Original Message -----
From: "TomT" <TomT@mwes.com>
To: <greenyes@grrn.org>
Sent: Monday, April 15, 2002 11:34 AM
Subject: RE: [GreenYes] Fw: How To Drive Down Gas Prices


For what it's worth, I received the below and have not had the time to
verify it's accuracy.

'Course I don't want those dirty S.O.B.s drilling in the Alaskan wilderness
either!


______



No more Arab Oil!!!!!!!!!!!!

Considering gas prices have risen $.21 per gallon in the past ten days here
I thought this was a timely and interesting piece. Where to buy gasoline and
not support terrorism is food for thought.

Yisrael Medad of the Begin Center sent the following information. Every time
you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into Middle Eastern
coffers. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the
Middle East.

Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the
tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family,
and my friends. I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil
companies are the best to buy gas from.


Major companies that import  Middle Eastern oil (for the period 9/1/00
-8/31/01):

Shell 205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon/Mobil 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco 62,231,000 barrels

If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION!


Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:

Citgo 0 barrels
Sunoco 0
Conoco 0
Sinclair 0
BP/Phillips 0

All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and can
be easily documented. Refineries located in the U.S. are required to state
where they get their oil and how much they are importing. They report on a
monthly basis. Keep this list in your car; share it with friends. Stop
paying for terrorism.

SPREAD THE WORD NOW!!!!!!!!!!
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