Someone told me last night that Venezuela was cutting off oil to the US

[LittleClarkie]

Is that just a bunch of hoo ha, or what? Anyone hear anything about it?

[benburch]

1. Nope!

They are cutting out supplying gasoline they didn't refine to about 1000 Citgo dealers.

They cannot make money buying gasoline on the market and selling it to those stores. The Citgo stations that will remain (most stations are not effected) will only be gas from Citgo's refineries.

[LittleClarkie]

4. Ah, typical freeper only coughed up half the story

shoulda known.

[northzax]

5. not quite true

they will continue to support Citgo stations in markets that they can provide enough refined gasoline so they don't have a net purchase amount. Gas is gas, once it's in the pipeline to the stores, and the actual gas in your local Citgo station is about as likely to be from Saudi Arabia as Caracas.

[benburch]

10. Ah OK.

The gist is the same. They are not stopping supplying anything at all.

[northzax]

2. no, it's not true

first off, oil is an open market, and you cannot easily direct where it goes once it's on the market. Citgo has decided to stop selling gasoline in markets not served by Citgo refineries.

[BrownOak]

3. On a totally unrelated note

I saw a Fox News special last night about Venezuela developing weapons of mass destruction.

If you love America you'll support the invasion of Venezuela...

[LittleClarkie]

6. They didn't seriously, did they?

It's Friday. I'm dense. Should there have been a sarcasm tag?

[BrownOak]

11. No, they didn't, but that doesn't mean they didn't want too n/t

[benburch]

14. Socialism *is* a WMD to Neocons. nt

[MADem]

7. They are shutting off a bunch of independent stations

mostly. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/4046035.html

Citgo decision hits Texas hardest
DALLAS - Citgo Petroleum Corp.'s decision to stop distributing gasoline to more than 1,900 retailers will force 534 Texas stations to find new suppliers, more than any state among the 14 affected.

But unlike 10 states where Houston-based Citgo will stop selling fuel outright, Texas still will have close to 800 stations selling Citgo fuel, spokesman David McCollum said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0607130269jul13,1,1897946.story?coll=chi-business-hed

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum Corp. has decided to stop distributing gasoline to 1,800 independently owned U.S. stations, shedding a lackluster segment of its business.

Although it might create some logistical headaches for retailers in the short term, the move should not have any impact on the nation's fuel supply.

Citgo currently has to purchase 130,000 barrels a day from third parties to meet its contracts at 13,100 Citgo-branded stations across the U.S. This is less profitable than selling gasoline directly from its refineries.

The company has decided to sell to retailers only the 750,000 barrels a day it produces at refineries in Lake Charles, La.; Corpus Christi, Texas; and west suburban Lemont.

As a result the Citgo brand will disappear from 10 states and be less common in four others, including Illinois and Indiana, by March 2007, when the change goes into effect, a Citgo spokesman said Wednesday.

[meganmonkey]

8. "Citgo to Stop Selling Gas to U.S. Stations" (AP) -

Wednesday July 12, 12:31 pm ET
Venezuela-Owned Citgo to Stop Selling Gasoline to Hundreds of U.S. Stations

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum Corp. has decided to stop distributing gasoline to some 1,800 U.S. stations, shedding a lackluster segment of its business while forcing the owners of those stations to find other suppliers.

While it may create some logistical headaches for gasoline retailers in the short term, the move should not have any impact on the nation's overall fuel supply.

Citgo, which is wholly owned by Venezuela's state oil company, currently has to purchase 130,000 barrels a day from third parties in order to meet its service contracts at 13,100 stations across the U.S. This is less profitable than selling gasoline directly from its refineries.

Instead, the Houston-based company has decided to sell to retailers only the 750,000 barrels a day that it produces at three U.S. refineries in Lake Charles, La., Corpus Christi, Texas and Lemont, Ill., according to a statement late Tuesday.

--snip---

The states where Citgo will stop selling gasoline are: Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota. A limited number of stations in Illinois, Texas, Arkansas and Iowa will also be affected.

more...


http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060712/venezuela_citgo.html?.v=3

[al bupp]

9. There was a notice in the biz magazines of reduction in leases

Do a search on the LBN & GD archives, you'll find it.

Basically all Citgo stations in the USA are run by ind operators via a lease w/ Citgo. The company's reported that due to the relative unprofitability of these lease agreements they were going to not renew something like 1000-2000 of them, primarily in the mid-west as I recall.

Not exactly a "cut-off". Their Citgo refineries in the US (there are several)will continue to crank out product, it'll just go to other customers, I suppose.

Sounds to me like your source was either spinning or misinformed.

[LittleClarkie]

12. Freeper. And he wasn't exactly a source. Just said something

I wanted to check out and get the truth on. Figures he had it about half wrong.

[benburch]

13. It's cuz they are all half-wrong in the head.

They only are able to hear things that match their prejudices. They seem to delight in rejecting information, no matter how true, that does not;

1. Support Bush
2. Denigrate whomever they paint as enemies of Bush
3. Paint all Democrats as Commie slightly to the left of Josef Stalin.

You can see this very clearly on Wikipedia where they have even gone so far as to take control of the page about DU! I was fighting that fight, but as I was outnumbered by wing-nuts I've taken a break from it. Feel free to take it up.