by TOM FOWLER
The e-mail read like something sent by your quasi-Internet-literate uncle with a hearing aid and conspiracy theory streak:
IN ORLANDO LAST WEEK, AT A CITGO STATION, REGULAR GAS WAS PRICED AT $2.82 PER GALLON, AND NO CUSTOMERS…
HOWEVER, ACROSS THE STREET FUEL WAS SELLING FOR$2.85 PER GALLON AND ALL PUMPS THERE HAD CARS WAITING TO FUEL UP. What’s going on? Word is getting around!!!!! Read on:
Have you noticed how the CITGO signs have disappeared in the past 7-8 months? A very clever move by Chavez. But guess what, “CITGO” IS CHANGING ITS NAME, too …
PETRO EXPRESSSS
Being in the refining capital of the U.S., I regularly get readers irate about anything related to Hugo Chavez and Venezuela. The country nationalized Western oil and gas assets there when Chavez came to power and U.S. refiner Citgo is now owned by the Venezuelean national oil company. There’s actually a certain amount of glee some readers show at the recent bad turn of events there. (Full disclosure: I had a soft spot for Citgo from my early days as a driver, pre-Chavez mind you).
But the Petro Express e-mail caught my attention for personal reasons…
I remember Petro Express from the 1990s when I lived in North Carolina. Its parent company — Pantry Inc. — used to be based in the small city of Sanford, N.C. , where I worked previously (the paper did not have a Web site waaay back then). Could the good people of Sanford really have sold out to South American socialists?
Not exactly. It turns out Petro Express is still part of Pantry, but they do get some of their gasoline from Citgo. According to their 2009 annual report:
Gasoline Operations. We purchase our gasoline from major oil companies and independent refiners. At our locations we offer a mix of branded and private branded gasoline based on an evaluation of local market conditions. Of our 1,655 stores that sold gasoline as of September 24, 2009, 1,141, or 68.9%, were branded under the BP ® , CITGO ® , Chevron ® , Shell® , Texaco® or ExxonMobil ® brand names. We purchase our branded gasoline and diesel fuel from major oil companies under supply agreements. We purchase the fuel at the stated rack price, or market price, quoted at each terminal as adjusted per the terms of applicable contracts. The initial terms of these supply agreements have expiration dates ranging from 2010 to 2013 and generally contain provisions for various payments to us based on volume of purchases and vendor allowances. We purchase the majority of our private branded gallons from CITGO Petroleum Corporation (“CITGO”). There are approximately 64 gasoline terminals in our operating areas, allowing us to choose from more than one distribution point for most of our stores. Our inventories of gasoline (both branded and private branded) turn approximately every four days.
Turns out this e-mail is pretty old. It has been the subject of vetting by a couple of online myth-busters in the past.
But would boycotting Petro Express take a bite out of Hugo Chavez’ budget?
Maybe. But there’s no way of really knowing if the gas going in your tank (even at a Citgo branded station) necessarily came from a Citgo refinery. The many arms of gasoline distribution system in the U.S. means a station could be getting fuel from a terminal that is being supplied from some other refinery around the country. Citgo has said in the past such boycott efforts haven’t had an impact on their sales.
And as Citgo has been emphasizing in recent ad campaigns, all of its outlets are independently owned. So a boycott would certainly hurt the mom-and-pop owner of that service station.