# Local gas station sign: ''We do not support terror. We do not buy ME oil." Really?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 22, 2003, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777 "2003-05-22T10:24:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/21 "2003-05-23T08:21:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by DrMatrix \*
> \*\ ***Tarantula** ,
>
> You’re new here, so let me give you notice, we do not allow political discussion in General Questions. This forum is about facts. If you want to discuss politics, you may do so in Great Debates, but not here. See the stick thread at the top of the this forum: [(heh) politics in GQ)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=176699).
>
> Stick to facts in this forum.
>
> **DrMatrix** - GQ Moderator \*\*
Apologies. I wasn’t aware of the rules. See you in the “Great Debates”
:smack:
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### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/22 "2003-05-23T10:41:30Z")
Someone sent me this link as a source of information on the boycott of certain oil companies. This site says that they get their information from the Department of Energy.
[http://www.boycott-middle-east-oil.com/](http://www.boycott-middle-east-oil.com/)
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### Author:  [@trabi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trabi)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/23 "2003-05-23T15:51:10Z")
Zoe, that link is full of hysterical crap designed to mislead and incite hatred. It contains graphs showing that a lot of oil is imported from the Persian Gulf. Not much of a surprise considering that’s where most of the oil just happens to be.
Oh yeah, boycott French products!!?! That’s put a stop to their fiendish terrorist plans. No more lethal “camembert bombs,” for example.
Anyway, the question is about to become irrelevant as all of the middle east’s oil production will soon be in the hands of a few American corporations anyway.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/24 "2003-05-23T16:01:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Collounsbury \*
> The oil market is a **highly liquid market.**
:dubious:
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### Author:  [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/25 "2003-05-23T16:36:29Z")
That oil boycott idea is a laugher.
Oil is not produced like a product, it’s a commodity, a finite natural resource. A country can increase or decease the rate of exhaust, but they can’t make more of it. If they sell more today, they can not sell as much later and vice versa.
If you want to boycott, boycott the commodity. Drive less and get a more fuel efficent car.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/26 "2003-05-23T16:42:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Surprisingly, the US only gets about 10% of its oil from the ME.
Cite? The figure I’m accustomed to is close to 50%. And oil resources in most other places are drying out - meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is estimated to have enough oil to keep pumping it out for several hundred more years at the current rate of production.
> [@](#):
>
> Of course that will mean that they have so much business and so much money that they can open up some new oil wells and refineries to make us even less dependent on the ME oil?
I agree with aahala’s answer, but I’d also add that OPEC would probably just cut prices if this really happened, thus increasing sales.
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/27 "2003-05-23T16:59:19Z")
The funny thing is that when I read the title, my first thought was “I didn’t even know there was oil drilling in Maine.”
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/28 "2003-05-23T17:29:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I believe it is a Sinclair station
Sinclair? Sinclair still exists? I haven’t seen a Sinclair station since the 1960s! I thought they got bought out eons ago. Used to have a sign with a green dinosaur on it. Appropriate for an extinct brand, I guess.
Have they been around all this time in some locale I’ve never visited, or did the company that bought them out bring the trademark out of retirement, or what?
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### Author:  [@jweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jweb)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/29 "2003-05-23T17:36:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by stuyguy \*
> \*\*Dignan, I don’t know if your gas station is in the US or not. If it is their claim of not selling ME oil is no big deal because most other stations could probably make the same statement. Surprisingly, the US only gets about **10%** of its oil from the ME. \*\*
I did a few minutes of searching, and found the number to be more like 24% of US oil coming from the mid-east.
[cite](http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2002/1024barrel.htm)
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/30 "2003-05-23T17:44:46Z")
From snopes:
"It is true that Hess has little or no dealings with Middle Eastern countries, as their exploration and production activities take place primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Algeria, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Brazil and Colombia. "
Thank god! It’s not like there’s any terrorism in Algeria, Indonesia, or Colombia. All perfectly upstanding governments, too. At least we can all sleep comfortably tonight.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/31 "2003-05-23T18:00:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Diceman \*
> **Only 10%, eh?
> Let’s see…America’s got domestic oil production in Alaska, Texas, and the Gulf of Mexico. Then there’s Mexico, Venezuela, and other Latin American countries. Plus, we get some oil from the North Seas oil fields. Anyone got a site for how much of our oil comes from which sources?**
[Here](http://www.ott.doe.gov/biofuels/energy_security.html#reliance)
> [@](#):
>
> In 2000, net imports totaled 10.4 million barrels per day, or 53% of petroleum products supplied.
> [@](#):
>
> In 2000, the Persian Gulf supplied 12.4% of U.S. oil consumption
Or about 24% of total imports.
From [here](http://api-ec.api.org/printerformat.cfm?ContentID=2D4B1FD8-5520-42EF-BBE7500E86499E98):
Figures are percentage of total U.S. domestic product supplied for November 2002:
1. Canada: 11.2
2. Saudi Arabia: 9.3
3. Mexico: 8.1
4. Nigeria: 4.1
5. Iraq: 3.0
6. United Kingdom: 2.4
7. Venezuela: 2.0
8. Algeria: 1.5
9. Angola: 1.0
10. Norway: 1.0
Other: 11.0
Total: 54.9
OPEC Countries: 21.3
Persian Gulf Countries: 13.6
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/32 "2003-05-23T18:02:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jweb \*
> \*\*I did a few minutes of searching, and found the number to be more like 24% of US oil coming from the mid-east.
>
> [cite](http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2002/1024barrel.htm) \*\*
That’s about 24% of _import_. It works out to 12-13% of total supply.
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### Author:  [@jweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jweb)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2003, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-gas-station-sign-we-do-not-support-terror-we-do-not-buy-me-oil-really/176777/33 "2003-05-23T18:52:55Z")
Lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Guess I should’ve read it a little bit more closely.
Thanks **Colibri**
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