It started happening @ 6-8 months ago ... i.e., shortly after the Venezuelan dictator's UN "performance" where he referred to US President Bush as "El Diablo", or the "devil".
Valero Oil and Susser distributing have been picking up a lot of the slack, and now have over 2000 stations in Texas and over 5500 nationwide with a compensating disappearance of CITGO signs and stations. The move was in reaction to slumping sales as "boycott CITGO" campaigns started springing up across the US. Initial reports indicated it was a "name change" only .... but that is NOT the case. CITGO gasoline outlets have taken a big hit in the past several months. The only sad thing is that it hasn't been front & center in the news media, at least sometime over the past months ....
CITGO was holly owned by Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) since @ 1990, and as some of you know, Chavez was elected in 1998 after CITGO had already established a large presence in the USA, and at NEX gas stations. The NEX deal was a scam from the get-go, however. In exchange for building "free" gas stations for the NEX, the fuel price at the pump was allowed to float @ the "average" price for the local area, vice matching the "lowest" price as had been the NEX practice in the past.
Hugo visited China shortly after the UN meeting (did he know something?) in search of a possible replacement client for falling US sales, so a US "boycott" of Venezuelan oil will probably not work in a global economy. One wonders, however, how the dictator will find enough tankers to move his oil to China, and how China will fare with the high sulphur, dirty Venezuelan oil.
When you get right down to it, as usual, it really isn't about politics. It's about $$$$$ ... follow the money .... :sleep_125
