weissblog

I’ve recently received an email from a couple different people calling for a boycott of certain gas stations based on the Department of Energy’s listing of who buys oil from the Middle East. I remember seeing a similar email back in the late 90’s so I figured I’d check to see how relevant the information was.

While digging around on the DOE website, I’ve found several interesting things. One page entitled Primer on Gasoline Sources and Markets offers a FAQ of sorts on why boycotting individual stations wouldn’t really help. On another page there’s a report compiled by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations entitled GAS PRICES: HOW ARE THEY REALLY SET? which was a really interesting read.

But, if you want to save yourself some reading and just find out what you can do to stop sending money to the Middle East, the following quote sums it up quite well:

The second way consumers impact the market is by reducing gasoline consumption. If enough people reduce driving or switch to more energy-efficient vehicles, gasoline demand would decline and prices would be dampened.

Carpool, anyone?

Oh, and if you still want to know where each company gets it oil, just go here and download the Excel file for whatever month or year you’re interested in. Good luck though, it’s not exactly light reading.