Gas station email called 'silly:' Officials say chain-letter type message is a hoax

www.townonline.com By Erin Walsh / Staff Writer Wednesday, March 5, 2003

Where do you buy your gas?

That is a question posed by an e-mail making its way around urging consumers to boycott imported oil from the Middle East by having consumers steer away from filling their tanks at stations notorious for purchasing crude oil from the Middle East.

The e-mail reads "The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor." It goes on to claim gas stations like Citgo, Sunoco, Conoco, Sinclair and Hess don't import Middle Eastern oil, while counterparts Shell, Exxon, Texaco and Mobil do.

The talk of war with Iraq and the ongoing strike in Venezuela have spiked gasoline prices over the past few months.

Venezuela rates among the world's top 10 crude oil producers, while Iraq holds the second largest proven reserves, with more than 112 billion barrels of oil.

Energy officials familiar with the e-mail claim it's a hoax and that it's impossible to determine which stations use Saudi oil.

"I'm familiar with it. Every time (gas) prices go up the same e-mail goes around," said Stephen Dodge, associate director for the Massachusetts Petroleum Council in Boston. Dodge says the United States receives 60 percent of its crude oil from overseas, with a good portion coming from Persian Gulf countries.

"Overall, as far as product like gas and home heating oil goes, (individual stations) get a mix from overseas and domestic production," said Dodge. "It's hard to say one company gets all its finished product from Saudi Arabia. So I really wouldn't venture to say (boycotting) would be a symbolic gesture because it's only a meaningless gesture."

Art Kinsman, director of government affairs for AAA New England, says a boycott of Middle Eastern oil is a "silly" notion and one that would only hurt station owners.

"How you could know for a fact a retailer is using only non-imported oil seems ludicrous to me," said Kinsman. "I would hate to see anyone penalize the local Shell guy because someone says his oil comes from Saudi Arabia."

Jonathan Cogan, spokesman for the Energy Information Administration, says the administration has no way to track where all oil comes from at the retail level.

"The only thing we can look at is a mandatory survey importers have to file that looks at the volume and type of oil imported," said Cogan.

"A dealer that owns a local gas station buys from a refiner or a bulk storage terminal that has oil coming from several pipelines."

Kinsman has closely followed gas price jumps in Massachusetts and says consumers can still feel empowered when it comes to the pending War with Iraq and its oil consequences.

"Reward the retailers charging less for gas by shopping around at the pumps," said Kinsman. "The main reason the prices are so high right now is jitter in the market over (threatened) war with Iraq."

Kinsman said this week's survey saw self-serve regular prices averaging from $1.57 to $1.80, with the highest full-serve price coming in at $2.10 per gallon.

"We're paying a war premium now for a war that hasn't happened," added Kinsman, whose not fully convinced individual retailers are making more of a profit when the prices spike.

"In some cases where a little local battle over customers ensues among retailers, some may be making less profit even though overall price is higher," said Kinsman.

Reporter Erin Walsh can be reached at 781-433-8337 or ewalsh@cnc.com.