When is the last time you saw a sign that said GAS War? Probably not for a long long time. Supplies of oil are not what they use to be, but neither is the makeup of the industry. This year we will loose up to 5000 small gas stations as they are replaced by mega-stations operated by the big oil companies.
When I was a kid, there were 4 gas stations in our neighborhood, Texaco, Gulf, Exxon, and an independent, all located at one busy intersection. Today there is one station, a giant Shell station with 24 pumps. There is only one other station in the area and its also a Shell station. The nearest other station is about 8 miles away. Shell can charge just about whatever they want. There is no competition. Remember Mobil Oil, Gulf Oil, and Texaco. Exxon or Standard of California has bought them out as well as hundreds of small independent chains.
And what about the refineries? The number of refineries in the US is half what they were in 1980. Chances are Exxon, BP, Marathon, Citgo, or Pemex refined the gas in your car. Pemex is a Mexican state owned Oil Company and Citgo is the Venezuela oil company controlled by Hugo Cavez.
In a free market economy, the company with the best product, service, and price should out pace the competition. But this does not hold for the big oil companies. There price and products are the same and they offer no service. They grow by buying out the completion, withholding oil from the market to drive up the price, and spending large sums to buy off legislators and local officials here and throughout the world.
Oil refinery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of oil refineries - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Independent Gas Stations Struggling to Survive - Kiplinger
When I was a kid, there were 4 gas stations in our neighborhood, Texaco, Gulf, Exxon, and an independent, all located at one busy intersection. Today there is one station, a giant Shell station with 24 pumps. There is only one other station in the area and its also a Shell station. The nearest other station is about 8 miles away. Shell can charge just about whatever they want. There is no competition. Remember Mobil Oil, Gulf Oil, and Texaco. Exxon or Standard of California has bought them out as well as hundreds of small independent chains.
And what about the refineries? The number of refineries in the US is half what they were in 1980. Chances are Exxon, BP, Marathon, Citgo, or Pemex refined the gas in your car. Pemex is a Mexican state owned Oil Company and Citgo is the Venezuela oil company controlled by Hugo Cavez.
In a free market economy, the company with the best product, service, and price should out pace the competition. But this does not hold for the big oil companies. There price and products are the same and they offer no service. They grow by buying out the completion, withholding oil from the market to drive up the price, and spending large sums to buy off legislators and local officials here and throughout the world.
Oil refinery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of oil refineries - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Independent Gas Stations Struggling to Survive - Kiplinger