Citgo Petroleum Corp. is off to its worst year in perhaps more than a decade as record oil prices cut into profits for its primary business of refining and selling gasoline and other fuels, Chief Executive Alejandro Granado said Tuesday in Houston.
“This year, even though the price at the pump is almost $4, this has been the worst year at Citgo Petroleum at least for the last 10 years,” Granado said during a speech at a company event to promote greater diversity among its vendors.
Citgo, the Houston-based arm of Venezuela’s state-controlled oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, has struggled along with many other refiners as crude prices have doubled since last year and fuel prices have not kept pace.
First-quarter combined refining profits at 11 major U.S. energy companies declined 83 percent, to $800 million, from $4.8 billion in the first three months of 2007, according to a report by the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration.
The report cited higher crude oil and operating costs, refinery outages, reduced sales and other factors for the decline.
Citgo, which was not included in the report because it is foreign-owned, is one of the nation’s largest oil refiners. It owns a 165,000-barrel-per-day plant in Corpus Christi, a 425,000-barrel plant in Lake Charles, La., and a 165,000-barrel plant in Lemont, Ill.
It also distributes fuels to more than 8,000 Citgo-branded gas stations in the United States.
Full Story Here:
With oil prices high, Citgo takes its lumps
One of my blogging buddies, Panhandle’s Perspective sent me this story this morning, he said that he just knew with me having the Boycott Citgo blogroll and all that I might find this interesting and perhaps I’d want to write on it, he was quite correct in that notion…
It doesn’t matter who we buy gas from now, it’s likely to come from a nation in this world that is either a sworn enemy of the USA or supports those that are, I have been on a huge kick for quite a long time now concerning the one that’s closest to us and likely the easiest to boycott, Citgo, and I want to ask all of you, once again, please make an effort to not buy gasoline from a Citgo branded station, I know it’s not a lot to ask, it’s an easy task to accomplish, and I know that many of you have made a deliberate effort to avoid Citgo, so please, just keep it up…
It’s our little way of striking back, and every little bit counts too!!
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The only station is town that sells diesel (the fuel of choice for my Chevy) is a Citgo station, I make sure to fill up at the Valero station in the next town whenever I go to WalMart. I run my tank dry before I buy diesel at Cash’s Citgo.Â
For whatever it’s worth, once I found out CITGO was owned by Venezuela (effectively owened by Hugo Chavez), I cut up my card, cancelled my account and haven’t bought anything from any Citgo station even though the closest station to my home happens to be a Citgo.
Don’t buy CITGO, never bought CITGO. I think they’re lousy gas.This is one boycott I can easily do. I have no car, the kids have a car and they won’t buy at CITGO. That’s because I’m paying them for gas and get to chose the place. Our Shell station is $.10 a gallon cheaper and will give me a free car wash with a fill up.