Feeling the need to boycott? Don't worry about France... Boycott this!

[Sava]

In the media and sometimes on these forums, I hear the collective voice of stupidity calling for boycott of French products because of their opposition to the war. I have a much better idea. If you want to affect the trail of money that leads to terror, boycott oil imports from the Persian Gulf. It's no secret that the Saudi's funnel money to terrorist groups. And while D1ck Cheney might not have a problem doing business with Saddam (Haliburton), I don't think we should be buying Saddam's oil... or the oil from Saudi's or Kuwaiti's, who in my opinion, syphon more money to terrorist organizations that Saddam.

Below is a list of oil companies, from the US Department of Energy, that import oil from the Persian Gulf region. While boycotting gasoline might not be an option, certainly we can all choose to buy gas from companies that import little or no oil from the region that supplies terrorists organizations with money via charities and such.

JANUARY - JUNE 2002
(Thousands of Barrels)
Company Total Persian Gulf % Persian Gulf
MOTIVA ENTERPRISES LLC 126,969 106,397 84%
CHEVRON CORP 124,843 70,614 57%
PHILLIPS 66 CO 110,172 11,872 11%
EXXON CO USA 104,966 39,332 37%
SUNOCO INC 103,625 2,428 2%
MOBIL OIL CORP 100,276 6,029 6%
VALERO MKTG & SUPPLY CO 84,895 60,212 71%
MARATHON ASHLAND PETRO LLC 84,421 39,911 47%
AMOCO OIL CO 80,633 15,236 19%
FLINT HILLS RESOURCES LP 68,527 7,898 12%
CITGO PETRO CORP 62,180 8,593 14%
LYONDELL CITGO REFG LP 45,551 5,621 12%
PHILLIPS PETRO CO 42,460 6,915 16%
PORT ARTHUR COKER CO 32,444 2,969 9%
BP OIL SUPPLY CO 25,359 524 2%
ORION RFNG CORP 24,183 918 4%
PREMCOR REFG GROUP INC THE 20,997 3,394 16%
MURPHY OIL USA INC 20,483 2,963 14%
ATOFINA PETROCHEMICALS INC 20,038 7,486 37%
ARCO PROD CO 16,114 4,242 26%
DIAMOND SHAMROCK REFG & MKTG 9,999 713 7%
FINA OIL & CHEM CO 8,882 4,039 45%
ULTRAMAR INC 7,881 632 8%
LION OIL CO 5,448 5,448 100%
TPI PETRO INC 5,441 4,472 82%
HUNT CRUDE OIL SUPPLY CO 5,381 2,683 50%
KOCH SUPPLY & TRDG CO 4,922 1,039 21%
BAYOIL USA INC 2,965 2,965 100%

I know its kind of messy, you can follow the link below to see the statistics in a much better format. But the numbers are pretty easy to understand. The percentage is the total percent of the companies' oil that is imported from the Persian Gulf region. Instead of boycotting France for its opposition to the war in Iraq, how about we disrupt the network of terror that has attacked us?

[Sava]

Here is the link for those of you that want to investigate these statistics.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/cli.html

Comments?

[BeBMan]

We should build solar driven cars only

[Sava]

BP Amaco is going to get most of my business from now on...
BP OIL SUPPLY CO 25,359 524 2%

The stats I quoted are sorted by total amount imported from the Persian Gulf.

Motiva and Chevron appear to be the worst ones.

[BeBMan]

But why is importing oil from the gulf region as such bad? Don´t they pay for it?

[MikeH]

You know that the US imports about 50% of the oil it uses anda large percentage of those imports come from the gulf right?

So whilst you are boycotting are you going to cut US oil use overall or, if not, where are you going to get all that replacement oil from? Venesuela has capped it's exports now...

[Sava]

OPEC effectively controls the output of oil from other non-Gulf countries. By sending a strong message to those b4stards, maybe it will affect the amount of oil coming from the Gulf states. Maybe other countries will step in to meet the increased demand. I'm not very knowledgable in how the international oil trade works, but I do know that if enough Americans take action, some sort of change will occur. Perhaps that change will be that the Saudi's will not support terrorists. Or perhaps we will become more independent in our energy consumption/production. Perhaps it will increase demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles, or alternative fuel sources. The point is that if you want to affect the money going to terrorists, you need to attack the source. Money from Gulf oil is linked to terrorists.

[DAVOUT]

In the same line of reasonning, it seems that Europe and the US citizens are spending huge amounts of money in buying (and consuming) illegal drugs. A portion on this money is financing terrorism.

Dont you think that coherent citizens should boycot illegal drugs first?

[woke26]

maybe we should eliminate the problem by denying that terrorism is funded by middle east countries (since there is no proof, they are not quilty).

[SlowwHand]

9% of our use comes from Iraq. We've waltzed down this road before.

[CerberusIV]

It would be more interesting to know which US politicians received funding for their election campaigns from the companies that import a high percentage of their oil from the Gulf.

An ethical crusade against that source of funding might have some effect.

The best long term answer is to adopt energy efficiency as much as possible and leave the arabs to drown in their own oil.

[Sava]

I'm not talking about only Iraq, Slowwy. Clean your reading glasses .

And in terms of the so-called "drug funding terror". I bet that more oil money gets funneled to terror. Plus, most marijuana (at least that I've been exposed to) is grown in Mexico or by people in the US. British Columbia also has a large marijuana growing industry. In fact, that whole ad campaign about drugs funding terror is pretty weak. And since the Taliban is gone in Afghanistan, poppy seed production (for opium) has gone up big-time.

And for the record... Bush senior works as a liason for American oil companies to the Saudi's. Cheney worked for Haliburton which sold Saddam 73 million dollars worth of oil equipment. Makes you wonder, huh?

[woke26]

The american energy strategy is to save up their own oil reserves for later generations and depleed other foreign sources first. this way they will be able to have lower energy costs (keep prize low by force) and in the same run have energy in the end when others have not.

the safest would ofcourse be to invest in sustainable energy sources like wind and solar power, but i think thats too expensive.

[Sava]

DL!!!!! YAY!!!!!



Oh by the way... according to something I heard on CNN Crossfire, the only reason the US isn't paying $5+ per gallon of gas like Europe is because the US government gives huge subsidies to the oil industry close to 9 billion a year and rising. IMO this is a very anti-free-market way of doing business.

[Adam Smith]

Originally posted by woke26
The american energy strategy is to save up their own oil reserves for later generations and depleed other foreign sources first. this way they will be able to have lower energy costs (keep prize low by force) and in the same run have energy in the end when others have not.

I dont think this is at all correct. If the US is trying to save up its domesetic reserves, why do we continue to pay subsidies to domestic oil producers? , propose opening up Arctic National Wildlife Range, and coastal drilling leases? Consume any domestic oil whatsoever??

Nice idea Sava, but the complexity of the market makes this strategy difficult. For example, where is Shell, the world's second or third largest oil company, on this list? And who has ever heard of Motiva Enterprises? Many oil companies buy some of their crude oil from intermediate merchants. which most consumers have never heard of.

A better strategy is to increase US gasoline taxes by 50 cents per gallon. That would have best been done on September 12.