Another e-mail myth debunked; you ARE buying oil from the Middle East

Saturday, March 8, 2003 By Rick Haglund Detroit Bureau

DETROIT -- You love your gas-guzzling SUV. But you hate the possibility that you may be supporting Arab states linked to terrorism every time you gas up.

Can you avoid buying gasoline refined from Middle Eastern oil? Although a widely distributed e-mail claims you can, government and petroleum industry officials say the information is a mixture of erroneous statistics and misleading conclusions.

The e-mail, which cites data purportedly from the U.S. Department of Energy, says that oil companies Citgo, Sunoco, Conoco, Sinclair, BP/Phillips and Hess do not import oil from the Middle East.

Major importers of Arab oil, according to the e-mail, are Shell, Chevron/Texaco, Exxon/Mobil, Marathon/Speedway and Amoco.

"Keep this list in your car; share it with friends. Stop paying for terrorism," the e-mail says.

Energy Department officials say the listings are misleading. Some of the companies the e-mail claims don't import oil from the Middle East do, in fact, get oil produced in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.

But here's the bigger problem with attempting to boycott companies that import Middle Eastern oil: Virtually all brands of gasoline sold in Michigan are mixed together in the same pipelines and storage facilities.

"It's a fungible product. It gets co-mingled," said Mark Griffin, president of the Michigan Petroleum Association, which represents gasoline wholesalers and retailers.

In other words, you could dutifully buy gasoline from Sunoco, as the e-mail suggests. But the Sunoco gas could actually have been refined from crude oil imported from the Middle East by Amoco.

"It's very difficult to know where crude oil comes from," said Bill Bush, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, which represents oil companies in Washington, D.C.

Griffin said the difference in various brands of gasoline is in the additives put in the fuel just before it's delivered to retail outlets. The additives reduce engine knock, clean engine parts and perform other functions, he said.

"It's virtually impossible to say at retail that gasoline comes from Venezuela, Saudi Arabia or any other country," Griffin said.

The Energy Department has a Web site (www.eia.doe.gov) that provides information about imported oil. And the American Petroleum Institute refers people to a Web site (www.snopes2.com) that debunks "urban legends." The Web site says its top search is for information concerning the e-mail about Middle Eastern oil.

Contact Rick Haglund at (248) 540-7311 or e-mail him at rhaglund @boothnewspapers.com.