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Permalink Reply by Mark on September 18, 2009 at 7:33

I've noticed an increasing amount of Shell stations along I-20.

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Permalink Reply by Grillin' - MmmMmm on September 18, 2009 at 8:24

Thank goodness for that Jack-in-the-Box!! Best commercials ever! I'm particularly fond of the mini-sirloin burger commercials featuring Little People, minature horses and cattle that have been reduced via cinamentology!

Jack's burgers aren't that great but he's got one heck of an advertising agency!

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Permalink Reply by Grillin' - MmmMmm on September 18, 2009 at 8:22

Mark (not to be confused with Grillin' Mmmarkk!),

What's wrong with Motiva buying crude from Saudi Aramco, then refining it and selling the product? I guess I don't understand your issue. Remember, Shell owns 1/2 of that venture as well.

Many refineries buy crude oil from a company owned by themselves (did that make sense?). Exxon's refineries buy crude from Exxon Upstream too. In the end, crude oil is a commodity that is traded around the world. If Motiva didn't buy that Saudi crude, they would buy Nigerian crude, then the Exxon refinery down the road would have to replace the Nigerian crude they were going to buy with Saudi crude. Think of it as one big old tank full of crude. A lot of folks pump into the tank and others pump out of the tank!

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Permalink Reply by Mark on September 18, 2009 at 8:34

Grillin' - Mmmarkkk, (not to be confused with Mark), I guess then it would be OK for Gazprom, CNOOC, etc., to open up shop over here, buy their own stock and resale it to the US consumer at a price cheaper than domestic. Wonderful. I need to get a job with them as it seems they'll be in business much longer than US companies. Is Exxon in Saudi Arabia, buying USA oil, refining/distributing, and selling to the Saudi consumer? I think not. But see if the extremely protectionist regime of Saudi Arabia would even consider allowing it.

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Permalink Reply by Sandstone on September 18, 2009 at 8:46

Mark - this is very interesting....
Could you possibly check on a rumor I heard about a year ago - the rumor was that Arabic country/countries were becoming large shareholders in the Permian Basin Field around Odessa/Midland, TX. I could never dig deep enough to find out.
Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Grillin' - MmmMmm on September 18, 2009 at 11:02

There are thousands of owners in the various fields that make up the Permian Basin. Don't think there is one company that is primarily an arabic company; however, Arab investors are big shareholders of many oil/gas companies. Since the stock trades on the open market, its difficult to stop them. But yeah, there are some arab owners of companies in the Permian Basin.

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Permalink Reply by Grillin' - MmmMmm on September 18, 2009 at 10:58

First: the crude they are buying is bought at market prices, that's why I mentioned that whole big tank thing. Second, since we import over half of our crude oil from other countries, it really doesn't matter if they are bringing in crude at cheaper prices as in your example. In fact, that would be great! It would lower prices at the pump.

Now in order for Gazprom, CNOOC, etc. to get their product (nat gas??) over here, it would cost them a ton of money. And that's already happening via LNG imports BTW. It comes form around the world. We also import a lot of gas from Canada via pipeline. At some point, we can not afford to produce U.S. gas if it costs more than imported gas. It would be similar to stopping the import of any other item just because someone else makes it cheaper.

But in terms of crude oil, we don't have enough and import a lot of it. Where it comes from, in the end, doesn't matter that much since you can cut off one market, but the crude just plays musical chairs and replaces another source. Its musical chairs, but there are more chairs than people playing!. Don't know if this is making sense but its well past Beer-Thirty on a Friday!

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Permalink Reply by Mark on September 18, 2009 at 9:58

Looks like the fuel you are buying from the cheaper place is likely coming from Motiva. This was copied from their website;

"We provide truckload and bulk oil products, and services to commercial customers such as businesses, fleets and wholesalers. We offer a full range of diesel fuels, kerosene and unbranded gasoline at a network of terminals throughout the East and Gulf Coast regions of the United States."

Just because it is a Exxon station doesn't mean you are buying Exxon gas. The Exxon I normally fill up at had a jobber filling the tanks. I asked where his company buys their fuel, he wouldn't say.

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