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A new version of "Where to buy your gas" is making the e-mail rounds this week ... I never do know, and I always wonder, what people are thinking when they pass items such as this along with the suggestion:
"all you have to do is send this to 10 people"
... since the "originator" of this e-mail apparently had an idea that ten people sending to ten people on down the line would change where WE buy our gas
- and it COULD do that - it could.
Maybe one person in ten who sends e-mails like this ever thinks to check Snopes first, but even so, Snopes does not have accurate numbers for current oil export/import, even thought Barbara "checks the facts" Mikkelson made an effort to correct mistakes in the e-mail, which, according to her, is "several" years old btw
The first "mission" of this e-mail is apparently to "return the favor" to "The Saudis" who, according to the e-mail, are "boycotting American goods"
- so I went looking to see what "American goods" Saudis might be boycotting today.
July 29, 2002, there was a report of "a grass-roots campaign by Arabs and other Muslims to boycott American goods over U.S. backing for Israel."
That boycott was "especially directed at well-known American products like Coca-Cola and McDonald's," along with Kentucky Fried Chicken and Hardee's, resulting in a surge in sales of the Iranian made Zamzam Cola, which Saudis actually prefer to Coca-Cola anyway, and, may we be honest in saying there is nothing particularly healthful about a Big Mac - with or without cheese ?
Let us get real here in the year 2008, when real food shortages are appearing in wealthy countries for the first time since World War II, when approximately 1 billion human beings are predicted will die of starvation within next year while Western "speculators" jack up prices of corn, rice and wheat, all basic to what most of us eat these days, already with not enough rice and wheat in the world due to drought and increased demand from Indians and Chinese now working in factories and offices with no time or place to grow their own food, and so corn production can be converted to make "bio-fuels" in order to continue Westerners' "God-given right to drive" all over everything.
Do we have any REAL problems to deal with ?
The e-mail going around wants me to believe:
"Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of
Saudi Arabia . Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis."
That leads me to ask, "What is the root of such a 'broad brush' dislike of Saudis?"
- does the author believe that every Saudi owns a new skyscraper in Dubai ?
What - there are no poor people in Saudi Arabia today ?
The author goes on to say, "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."
Well, I do not know how to break it to him gently, but he is right
- right in the sense that he is giving money to people who are trying, in some way to kill him.
The problem is that he does NOT know who he is sending money TO.
His idea of "which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies
import Middle Eastern oil" is outlined in the e-mail, but does his "knowledge" hold water ?
He says:
These companies import Middle Eastern oil:
Shell........................... 205,7 42,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco......... 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon/Mobil...... ......... 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway... 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco............................62,231,000 barrels
Lots of companies "import Middle Eastern oil" - so what does the author mean ?
Assuming the author is American and buys his gasoline in America, the oil from which American refineries make that gasoline comes primarily from the United States and Canada - Canada being number ONE on the top ten list of petroleum suppliers to the United States:
1. Canada
2. Mexico
3. Saudi Arabia
4. Venezuela
5. Nigeria
6. Angola
7. Iraq
8. Algeria
9. United Kingdom
10. Brazil
According to the United States Department of Energy, Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Import Statistics for February, 2008, are as follows:
"February 2008 Import Highlights: April 14, 2008
Preliminary monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in February 2008 has been
released and it shows that two countries exported more than 1.50 million barrels per
day to the United States. Including those countries, a total of three countries exported
over 1.20 million barrels per day of crude oil to the United States (see table below).
The top five exporting countries accounted for 70 percent of United States crude oil
imports in February while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 88 percent
of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top sources of US crude oil imports for February were
Canada (1.888 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.614 million barrels per day),
Mexico (1.231 million barrels per day), Nigeria (0.982 million barrels per day), and
Venezuela (0.927 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order,
were Iraq (0.780 million barrels per day), Angola (0.341 million barrels per day),
Kuwait (0.261 million barrels per day), Colombia (0.220 million barrels per day), and
Ecuador (0.169 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 9.514 million
barrels per day in February, which is a decrease of (0.486) million barrels per day from
January 2008.
Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in February, exporting 2.419
million barrels per day to the United States, which is a decrease from last month
(2.586 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was
Saudi Arabia with 1.627 million barrels per day."
According to the United State Energy Information Administration (took me about one minute to look this up), during the week of March 14, 2008, crude oil input to U. S. refineries was 14,427,000 barrels per day, or 100,989,000 barrels for that week.
Now, keeping in mind that the United States is still the THIRD largest supplier of petroleum products in the world, yes it is, we can see that Canada, which according to U. S. government statistics supplies the most U. S. *imports* of crude oil to the U. S. - 1.88 million barrels a day, or about 13.2 million barrels a week - supplied, using the previous months import figure, about 13% of "crude oil input to U. S. refineries" (again, using U. S. government statistics) during the week ending March 14, 2008.
Saudi Arabia contributed 1.614 million barrels per day, or about 11.2 million barrels a week - 11% of crude oil input to U. S. refineries, and Mexico added 1.231 million barrels per day, or 8.61 million barrels a week - about 8.5% of total input.
After that, aside from Iraq, all other contributing countries are either African or South American, with exception of North Sea input from the United Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia adds about eleven cents of every dollar the author spends for gasoline, so who is that boycott going to hurt ?
Really ?
I think it is time we wake up to the facts and stop knocking around nonsense.
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Contributor's Note
Agree or disagree, I hope you will join our discussions.
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