Bee County (Texas) leaders urging boycott of Exxon Mobil

[TomInTib]

Jeorge Zarazua
Express-News Staff Writer

BEEVILLE — Texans don't like to be messed with, especially in this rugged South Texas county not far from some of the state's major independence battlefields.

So, it was only a matter of time before Bee County Judge Jimmy Martinez said someone had to stand up to tackle a national epidemic striking at the heart — and pockets — of local residents: Rising gas prices.

This week, Bee County became the first in the state, possibly the country, to pass a resolution asking motorists to boycott fuel pumps beginning Monday.

County elected officials said they would ask others in the state to follow suit.

"Hey, the American people are tired," Martinez said. "What we did is we simply took action instead of complaining.

"We're offering our residents a beacon of hope."

a lot more at:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/MYSA042606.01A.gas_boycott.a7f4954.html

[Chimichurri]

1. Boycott Exxxon!! Great idea. Imagine if everyone disgusted

by their gouging bought gas from a different company if possible. What a statement that would make.

[northzax]

2. a much better investment

would be giving all the Bee County elected offcials a short refresher course in Econ 101.

[400Years]

3. or giving you a lesson in civics

[northzax]

4. well, if civics means futile gestures

with no understanding of the underlying economic issues. then I guess I need a civics lesson.

every single person in the US could stop buying gas at ExxonMobil stations tommorow, and you know how much it would affect ExxonMobil's revenues? less than 5%. yes, less than 5% of ExxonMobil's revenues come from corporate-owned gas stations. Meanwhile, when the local Citgo runs out of gas, they'll buy more from their local wholesaler, who will, likely as not, buy it from the ExxonMobil corporation.

it's the equivalent of thinking Sony is going to lower it's prices on DVD players if you only buy them at Best Buy, not Circuit City.

[400Years]

5. You are ignoring the impact on public sentiment

The public by and large connects Bush with Exxon as well.

Not to mention the reaction by the franchise owners.

The mere fact that this resolution was being debated means that the issue is on the table.

[northzax]

6. what, when the public realizes that it doesn't work?

when every single ExxonMobil Franchisee goes out of business, reducing the competition in the local gasoline market? And Exxon still records record profits?

look, people are obviously frustrated with higher gasoline prices, but ExxonMobil doesn't really have much to do with it. They will sell their oil wherever they can make the most money, if China and India will pay, and we won't, why do they care? their job is to make money, not provide cheap gasoline to people. Just as boycotting Citgo won't actually hurt Chavez, boycotting ExxonMobil won't actually hurt them, because you can't actually boycott them. Gasoline is a commodity. If ExxonMobil can't sell it directly to you, they'll wholesale it to someone who can.

the issue, in reality, is not that ExxonMobil is price gouging, but that we, as a country, USE TOO MUCH GASOLINE. until that changes, prices won't change much either. no matter how many stunts people play.

[Flabbergasted]

7. Thank You so much for bring that up because a 5% drop in revenue

can be considered a successful boycott.

:yourock:

[northzax]

8. I can give as an example a local franchise

the White House Mobil station on 14th and U, Washington, DC. It is retrofitting its tanks to hold an ethanol tank. great. In the three weeks since it has been simply a convenience station, the place has made as much money, not as much revenue, but as much profit, as the three weeks before. Gas stations make money off of convenience stores, not gasoline. That's worth remembering. Makes you wonder where the profit really is (turns out, it's in pumping and importing and refining, not in retailing. So 5% is generous.

Plus, what is ExxonMobil supposed to do? sell the gasoline at a loss? you get roughly 28 gallons of gasoline from a barrel of Light Sweet Crude like what comes from Alaska and the middle east (less from heavier grades like Mexican, Californian and Venezuelan) Let us do some math.

A barrel of oil, delivered to a refinery, today costs $71.93. that is, before refining costs, internal transportation costs, EBITA, retail costs and taxes, $2.56 gallon. My local station (that's still open) sells regular gasoline for $3.19 (well, $3.1899) at 28 gallons/bbl, that's a barrel cost of $89.32. Federal taxes at $.189/gallon, that's $5.29 for the barrel. ass in DC gasoline taxes of $.195, and you have a total tax burden of $10.75 per barrel. That leaves $78.57 gross revenue. To replace that barrel of oil, today, the company needs to pay $71.93. Which leaves a net revenue of $6.64 per barrel of oil. Out of that comes refining costs, internal transportation and all the operating expenses of the company. cut all that out, and you have a margin of $.23/gallon to play with.

Now, the large companies have longer term contracts that insulate them somewhat from spot pricing, but the way the market works, the ones that don't have the ability to get lower prices will have to charge more, and the other guys follow them up. Even ExxonMobil has to buy new oil on the open market to replace what people buy, right?

There is one of two things that will lower the price of oil, for longer than a coupleof months. First, a total collapse of the economies of China and India (remember the cheap oil of the late 90's? directly related to the South East Asian economic collapse of 1997-1998. Or, a major, and I mean major new find. But that's not happening. Say we nationalize the oil industry, it wouldn't drop prices more than $.10-.15/gallon. You'll notice that Citgo, a company owned entirely by a state, one run by leftists, isn't any cheaper than ExxonMobil on the open market.

on edit: by the way, I'd love to have my math be wrong here, so please show me where. And the price of gas affects me only indirectly since I don't drive often, so this is all extrapolated.

[Flabbergasted]

9. What I am personally interested in is advancing the cause to end the wars

in the Middle East and put some checks on our government. I really don't care too much about people saying something is not possible. Why not spend your energy coming up with some good ideas if you don't like the ideas these people have.

[northzax]

10. sure, no problem

I can easily come up with this stupid an useless of an idea: ride horses to work.

Seriously, learn to live without as much petroleum. I pay a premium to live a mile from work, so I can ride my bike. I walk a lot. When I go farther, places that public transportation doesn't go, I ride-share with others who need to go. I do own a car, but I make sure that it is in peak running condition, to get the best mileage possible, and I can't remember the last time I was in it alone. I voluntarily pay a premuim for green energy, two cents a kilowatt more than tranditional electricity. I buy things with as little packagine as possible, to avoid additional shipment costs. When possible, I buy locally grown produce, to reduce transportation costs. I turn out the lights when I leave the room, and keep my apartment at 62 degrees in the winter and 80 in the summer. I take a bag to the grocery store, so I don't use their plastic or paper ones. I print double sided. I reuse and recycle everything I can. My carbon footprint can be offset by one mature tree.

want me to go on? try them.

ask yourself why you own a car. Do you live too far from work to walk, bike or carpool? move closer. (sucks sometimes, but it's what I did) try it. Unless you live in the country, you don't really NEED a car, it just makes life easier. Ask yourself why your thermostat is at 62 and not 60, put on a sweater and save money. Find all the non-low energy lightbulbs in your house and replace them. Turn off the lights when you leave any room. if there is no public transportation where you live either move to a place where there is public transit, or insist that your local politicians come up with it, and then use it, even if it's not convenient. inflate the tires on your car to the optimum level. Ask yourself why you aren't buying green energy. carpool. The only way to reduce the price of any commodity to to reduce comsumption.

Look, I don't want to sound preachy, but simple economics dictate the law of supply and demand. Supply ain't changing any time soon, so change your life to reduce demand. you and 300 million other people do that, and something interesting can happen. We've made some stupid mistakes geopolitically that have lead to this point, but there is nothing we can do, in the short or long term, save serious reduction in the use of petroleum. I have, in many ways, structured my life, and make decisions every day, to reduce my carbon footprint and the amount of fossil fuels, including petroleum, I use. Welcome to the brave new world. You may have structured your life around access to petroleum, but if you did so, why are you complaining so much?you put yourself at the mercy of large multi-national corporations; did you really not see this coming? if you are an average American citizen, you use more energy, every day, than 6 billion other people do. Physician, heal thyself. Assume that gasoline will cost $4/gallon next year, and structure your life accordingly.

[Blue_Tires]

11. good insights n/t