Delineation Photography

While this story is purely fictional , I think it represents a real life situation, the reader is intended to read it and stop and think. The story takes the Illegal Alien debate down to a human level and not some politicians debate! Read on……..

My Dairy

February 18th, 2008

Today is a good day! I have had the chance to visit with the doctor in the city. They say that my son is strong and that he is growing everyday. It felt good to feel such joy after so much time of sorrow and I nervously await his arrival in the fall. The doctor asked me how Iknew it was a boy, and I just smiled. Some things a mother just knows.

It has been two months since Juan was killed. He did not even know that he would have a son. And I did not know that I would have to face this challenge alone.

Right now I am still living with my family, and they say they are glad to have me. But I know that they cannot afford to have two more mouths to feed. I must find a way to make a life for my child. And I must do it alone.

Lord, please give me the strength to face the road you have chosen for me.

March 2nd, 2008

I have received a letter from my sister. She is living in America and says that I must come to join her. She has work, and her own apartment with plenty of room for both the baby and me. She tells me that we can set it up so that one of us is always home to care for him. This sounds almost too good to be true!

If my child is born in America, then he is an American citizen. He will have chances that I could never even dream of. I don’t care to work hard. I will work harder than any other to give my child a life. A life away from poverty and hunger. A life where he does not have to wonder what he will eat tomorrow. That is my dream.

I look around me and know that I must act quickly. I am but 4 months along, and can still move quickly. If I wait much longer I will start to grow and the journey will be much harder. Plus, I can see the strain that I am putting on my family. They would be hungry without me, but with me they are starving. They all try to give me the best of what we have for the baby. It is kind and selfless of them, but I want better. Maybe when I get to America I can send back some money to make things easier.

I have already written to my sister to tell her that I want to come. Now I just have to wait.

Lord, thank you for your blessings for they are many.

March 29th, 2008

My sister has written and sent money. She says that a man will come to pick me up in one week and that he will bring me to her. I am scared, but excited at the same time. It is good that I don’t have much to pack as they say that I can only bring one small bag.

I have packed two outfits, a blanket mama made for the baby, my bible, and the few pictures that I have of Juan. And, of course, my diary. I want my son to know his father and to know that he died trying to give him a better life.

I am scared.

Dear Lord, please give me strength.

April 6th, 2008

I am scared. Yesterday a man came to my parents’ home and ordered that I come with him. We left so quickly that I barely had time to tell mama I loved her. We got into a truck and he demanded the money that my sister sent. I gave him most of it, but I didn’t tell him that I sewed some into the skirt of my dress.

He gave me an angry look and said that I better be glad that I had the cash. Then he asked my age. I told him that I was 19 and he said that if anyone asked to tell them 16. After that the night became an endless parade of riding in different trucks. Every time we stopped more people joined us for the next leg. By the end there were so many of us in the back of the truck that there was barely room to sit.

As I looked at the faces all around me I saw the same fear that I felt in my heart. I didn’t know much about this journey other than that it would take me to my sister in America. She lived in a place called Chicago, and it sounded beautiful to me.

Then just as the dawn broke the truck abruptly stopped moving. I heard voices yelling outside but I could not understand the words. All I know is that they sounded angry. Then I heard a gun being fired followed by more yelling.

The people in the truck were starting to panic. Some of them could understand the argument and they looked as thought they had seen a ghost. I was so frightened and clutched my little bag to my stomach in hopes of protecting my child. Suddenly someone grabbed me from behind. I started to scream but a hand clamped over my mouth and pulled backwards. I fought until I recognized the man that had taken me from my parents house. He did not seem nice, but at least I knew his face.

He pulled me through a secret door and then showed me a hole in the floor of the truck. He said to drop down after him and stay quite. We came out underneath the trailer that I had just been in, and both sank down into a crouch. He tried to get me to leave my bag, but I would not. It was all that I had left of my family. Then after what seemed like an hour of listening to people yell, he told me to run. We took off into the night as more gunfire exploded around the truck. I heard screaming, but dared not to look back. I just ran until my leg burned.

When we finally stopped I asked what had happened, but my guide would not tell me. He just looked at me and said, “Welcome to America.”

Lord, Please be with those who were left behind.

April 10th, 2008

I have learned that my guide’s name is Mark and that he is a friend of my sisters. He has also told me that many people died in the desert that night. Apparently the men who came to take the truck over the border were not pleased with the amount of money they were given and had demanded more. Had we not run when we did, we could have died too.

Since that day we have traveled many many miles. I have lost count of the time but Mark tells me that we are almost to Chicago. I will see my sister tonight, and tomorrow I will start my new life in America.

I feel that it is a good sign that today I felt my son move for the very first time.
Lord, I thank you for your mercy and your love.

May 12th, 2008

It has been long since I have written, but so much has happened! I am living with my sister in Chicago and learning about life here. There is so much to see!

First my sister helped me to find a job. She said that we must be careful as to where since I am considered to be illegal. I asked why this was so, and she told me that there was not time to do it any other way with the baby involved. We went to a man that gave me a “green card” that does not have my name on it. They told me to memorize the name and always use it in public.

It was all so confusing to me, but I will learn. I have to learn, because I must have this card to work. And I want to work. I want to build a life for my son.

And my son is growing! I am now starting to show and I love to rub the little bump at my middle. It makes me feel close to Juan when I spend so much time feeling lost.

We found a job for me in a laundry. It is wonderful. They pay me every week, and they even have air conditioning. I get to take breaks three times a day, and I love that I can walk to work. The lady that owns the laundry is so nice to me. She gives me the easiest jobs because she knows about the baby. I work as hard as I can to show her how much I appreciate all that she has done.

Lord I thank your for your bounty and for the love you have shown to me.

July 18th, 2008

I am so big now! My sister takes me to a city doctor who tells me that my son will come any time now. Well, he tells me that I am having a daughter, but I know in my heart that I carry a boy. And I cannot wait to meet him. There is so much to show him in this amazing land.

I have money saved up from my job at the laundry and the owner says that I can take all the time that I need with the baby. She will hold my job for me! I am so fortunate. I even had enough money to send some home to Mama. It makes me feel good to know that my work is making it easier for them.

My sister and I have a beautiful nursery ready for the baby. He has a cradle and it is draped with the blanket that Mama sent. This will be the first blanket that I wrap him in. I want him to feel the love of his family even though they cannot meet him yet.

Lord, Please guide my son to me and hold him until I may hold him myself.

The Chicago Tribune

Feds Target Local Laundry in Illegals Raid
August 1st, 2008

A routine bust for illegal aliens took a dramatic turn this morning when a young Mexican mother went into labor during the raid. The feds had targeted a dry cleaners where they found the girl working the counter. She was taken into custody along with the other suspect illegals at the business and brought in for questioning.
Problems arose during transport when the other detainees started calling to the officers that the young girl had gone into labor. Officers believed this to be a ploy and continued on without stopping to check on the girl. Upon reaching their destination they discovered the girl unconscious with significant blood loss.

She was rushed to the hospital where doctors were able to deliver a healthy baby boy via caesarian. It is not known if the mother will survive. This reported has discovered that the mother is only 19 years old, and that she came to America hoping for a better life for her child.

If the mother does not survive it is unclear what will happen to the child. He has an Aunt that immigrated to this county legally but child services may intervene.

The officers involved face an inquiry over the situation. However, they did release a statement claiming that all procedure had been followed.

Well, here is the definition of Delineation:

Describe or set forth to portray something accurately.

So as I develop this site it will portray current events using imagery, I will attempt to portray them as they happen, and accurately most importantly represent them as they happened. One example will be the illegal alien debate that is going on right now. My plan is to shoot images to document what “EXACTLY” they experience when they come to the United States.

I do however reserve the right to publish my opinions in the blogs that accompany the images.

Enjoy

Illegal Aliens

Here is my story, I have some passion that surrounds the illegal alien issue, you might not agree with me but hear me out on this one, since I do know a little about the topic. First let me tell you a little about myself and my family, as you can probably gather I am Caucasian , or a white boy, as the black girls at Manual High used to call me. While white boy is somewhat of a derogatory term, I came to think of it as just plain funny, in particular how it was spoken. It was spoken with a sort of inflection that really is hard to describe in writing , but all I can say is it was sort of WHIIITe Boi. I don’t know if that makes any sense but it did sound interesting nonetheless. About 19 years ago I met a wonderful Hispanic girl, as I write this you wont see any more references to her as Hispanic, since I never really saw that, I have always just plain loved the person, not the term used to describe her. So from this point forward she will be referred to as my wife and mother of my children. My wife is a great person, and I would have to say the reason our kids are such great kids, is primarily due to her. I am writing a book and the first part is devoted to her, and the kids, since they are really the best people I know in the world. Of course I am biased on that fact, but that is beside the point.

My wife is a third generation Mexican, and in terms that others would understand that don’t live in the Southwest, that means, her mother’s mother was a Mexican from Mexico, so her grandmother was an illegal alien in no uncertain terms. My wife’s mother became a naturalized citizen here in the US ONLY because she was actually born here. Perhaps that actually makes my wife a second generation US citizen, I don’t know. The whole point here is their relatives were illegal in this country.

You will see why that has bearing on this story later in the blog.

The story I have to tell you about the things we have experienced as a mixed racial couple , whatever the hell that means.

I mean to us, we are husband and wife and that is it! Anyway, over the years we have had a neighbor refuse to come to our house for a barbecue,because she was a Mexican, we have had people look at us in the grocery store, you name it. The worst moment of my entire life , yes the worst, was when were in the local grocery store where we used to live, in Apache Junction. Let me just say without hammering on Apache Junction, it is not known for its diversity so the population there is basically working class white folk.

So we are standing in line getting groceries, and a skin head starts eye balling us. How did I know he was a skin head? Hmm, perhaps the bald head …….with a swastika tattoo, probably was the first clue! As we paid for the groceries we began to walk out of the store, and this guy starts following us, still eyeballing us like there was some sinister evil thought in his mind. Just to add to the stress of the situation , we had our two little children with us , who were 2 and 5 at the time. We rushed out of the store, and the guy continued to follow us and sort of grumbled something to us, but you know what, I knew I could not take him, so as the song says “gimme three steps” so we got the hell out of there, jumped in the car and sped off. We have never been so scared in our entire lives.

When I got home I took a deep breath and felt something I had never felt in my entire life as a Whiit Boi, yes it was the feeling of racism. This feeling is well beyond words, since you really don’t understand why another human being can hate you, your wife, and especially your beautiful little kids, for no real reason. What reason could there be?? It is a deep sinking feeling that makes you lose hope in the world, if not for a minute, maybe always, depending on the person. It is also a feeling that will never leave you, and will make you think about things differently the rest of your life. I can tell you that was well over ten years ago, and the feeling has never left me. I react differently to people because, of it. I tend to gravitate to others that perhaps have felt the same feeling, although I rarely discuss it with them. Back in those days ( it was the 80′s, the Reagan era) I was well on my way to becoming another young republican, that single moment in my life, had steered me to become a Democrat since I truly believe that party’s core values are people and diversity( well I have to add that I really don’t believe the party system is a good way to go, I would have to say I am realist and vote based on what I feel is right, not what a party or group of people think). Today I look at the world around me and see injustice where I don’t think I would have ever seen it before.

One more story to give some additional background, a few weeks ago an individual came into town and we went out to lunch, there were actually three of us at the table, three guys. As guys go, we always joke around, and make fun of each other , it really is allot of fun, and harmless. Well, in the past few week Sheriff Joe Arpaio, has been running round ups to rid the county of the scourge we all know as the illegal aliens, I mean, 99% of them are great people, the other 1% ruin it for others and cause some trouble, so for that the entire lot must be cleansed.

So on this day Sheriff Joe had publicized the round up, probably mostly for the publicity since after all this is an election year. So one of the guys turns to me and says “is your family in the house today?” I thought yea I guess it is hot out? I really was not sure what the heck he was talking about. I said “yes, why do you ask?” he says “cause Sheriff Joe is doing his roundups”. At first I did not get it, and the other guy at the table was cackling like a hyena, I looked over at him, and he tried to quell his laughter, at the point I could feel the blood rush to my head, and I thought what in the hell?

Could someone be this callous to make a joke about my family. I looked at both of them, and told them I did not think was remotely funny. Of course they both apologized, but I sat there and just thought I should either kick the guys ass, or leave. I swallowed hard and bucked up and took a deep breath, and tried to move on. We ate lunch, and left , and needless to say it was an awkward lunch.

We drove back to the office and that was the end of it. Later that night I got an apology email from the guy, and was still pretty mad, so thought I needed to sleep on it and calm down.

The other guy phoned and asked if I was mad at him, and I said not really, I was mad at the situation, since you see, the guy who made the joke really is a great guy and did not mean anything by it, but that comment brought that feeling right back to the surface, but this time is was extreme hatred and anger and how stupid people could be. Just think about this , I am a pretty successful guy, and have done OK for my family, and struggle with this issue, think about the poor people who come here from Mexico who are literally powerless over the situation. Think about all those people, for the most part, they are good salt of the earth folks that come here just to have a better life, they have no control over the country they were born in. Those people can’t help that the government of Mexico is corrupt and has done a terrible injustice to them. They come here and work hard, pay their bills, allot of them buy houses , etc. Is it their fault our country’s immigration laws are so complex they could never even hope to get through them without the help of a lawyer? No not very funny at all.

My wife went to nail tech school with a young lady, who we later found out was illegal . Remember the feeling, well this time I felt it for her, and thought I am going to help her get her citizenship papers, so I google the stuff and find the site to get things started. I am here to tell you that INS site and the documents you have to fill out will make your head swim. I did not now where to even start, and I have a friggin college education!

So the gal goes to a lawyer here in town and pays the guy 5000.00 dollars of her hard earned money she made doing nails, well guess what? The lawyer was a snake, and just took her money, then when he got busted for it, turned over his client list to the INS, and they tracked her , AND her kids down, and promptly returned them to Mexico. If you ask me, that was completely jacked man, I mean she was trying to do the right thing. So the little gal spends her last 5000.00 dollars, and pays a coyote( a coyote is a hired person to get people across the border) to get them back. She paid for her kids only, and it is amazing to me that the kids actually made it back. After all ANYTHING could have happened to those kids. The little gal actually came back on her own through the desert. Simply amazing that she made it back. You might say at this point why didn’t she try and get the citizenship done prior to coming here? If you have ever been to Mexico, you will know the answer to this, there simply are no good ways to go about it. She stayed for a while but could not live here without fear of the Immigration folks coming to get her. She has since left the state and moved to another state further in the country, since the heat of the INS is not as prevalent where she is now. I don’t know what happened to her or her kids since they left. It does make my heart sink every-time I think about it, that feeling again.

My real issue with the so called round ups is, it is not the job of our local police to do this, I mean we pay our taxes for them to do a job. I read the other day that crime statistics for other type of crimes, like robbery, murder, are beginning to slip, I think due in part to the focus on this topic. My point is, we have an entire department of the Federal Government devoted to immigration and they should handle it, that is what they are paid to do! Not to mention, most of the folks Joe is rounding up are the people who just want to cut the grass, or sell popsicles on the street corner, hardly a threat to our way of life.

Today we got up early, and went out to shoot images of some of the day laborers, I state it like that since I don’t know for a fact that they were indeed illegals, got that Joe? So you can’t say I am a party to anything illegal. As I was shooting the images I saw a sign that said it was illegal to pick up day laborers, wow that was something I did not know! I wonder how many people don’t realize that? I mean how many people go pick up some guys to help out in the yard, spread some gravel or other yard tasks, illegal! This brings to mind a thought, since it is illegal to pick up day laborers, why not arrest those folks? They are breaking the law as well! We chatted with some of the guys on the corner, well my wife did in Spanish, we told them we were just shooting pictures for my hobby, some did not want their picture taken and turned away, for obvious reasons. Yes, I am shooting pictures for fun, but on this day, my goal was to change the world in some way. While I don’t have much impact on all the politics and the issues, this day was mine and theirs! You see if just one person reads this, and looks at the issue from a different perspective I did it! I changed the world, one image at a time!

I don’t want to end this by just telling some stories , but I would offer up a solution for what it is worth. I totally agree with people who say we spend money on folks who come here to provide health care, and other services. I am here to tell you those people who stand out there trying to make a living would have no problem paying taxes, and paying social security. So that is what I offer, why don’t we create some worker program where they pay their taxes just like everyone else? Yes, of course there would be those who try to bypass the system, but knowing a bunch of these people, I can tell you for a fact that they would gladly pay just to stay here and enjoy a life that they could not otherwise enjoy in Mexico.

There are more elements to the topic, which include the immigration of those from other countries( my ex step dad was Canadian and he was here illegally for about 20 years and no one ever hassled him, and he was a complete dirtbag). This is not a simple topic to fix, but you know what, if we can build cities and go the moon, we can certainly solve this issue. I urge you to help fix this in some little way, do it , change the world!

In closing I would just like to say this has been the most incredible summer for me, since I have discovered a way to impact things that I thought I could not before. I have discovered a talent I had long forgotten, and use it to awaken others….Hopefully this has done just that.

Enjoy-ter

OK so this is my experience with the iPhone. I told myself when the version 2 iPhone came out I would get one. So on Friday my wife and I rolled out of the house at a bright and early 10 am. Why 10 a.m. , well I thought, hey this time around everyone would have lost interest right? Wrong!

So we drive over to the local At&t store, and voila there were no people, yes I thought I had indeed outsmarted the crowds, right? Wrong!

Outside of the AT&t store I was officially hooked , I mean that is what happens with this stuff. So we figure hey there is a reseller down the street, so off we went. As we pull up to the store the guy that worked there was just opening up, ah hah , I did it, right? Wrong! The guy told us they didn’t even have any and to check with the local Apple store. The next call was to the Apple store in the Chandler Mall, they said they had plenty but by the time the end of the line would come they would be out.

We called the San Tan Apple Store and yes they had some, and the lady that answered was really happy about it! She said come on over, and get one. Well, we will drive over there, run in grab one, and leave, right? Wrong! When we got to the store the line was out the door, and this is an outdoor mall in Arizona, middle of summer, and it was about 110 degrees out. So I dropped off my wife and left………. went home…..went to lunch…..went to get a beer…. no to park the car, yea right I left her there!

I shot a few images on the walk to the Apple store and it was quite an amazing site to see all the people out in the sun under the misters, it looked like fog it was so thick, but hey at least it kept us cool.

The wait in line was not that long, only three short hours, but it was actually allot of fun. The folks at the Apple store made sure we all had water, and the local pizza restaurant provided pizza to all of us.

After the three hour wait we were finally inside the store, and let me tell you the A/C was wonderful!

I did get my iPhone and would have to say the experience was well worth it, and I would do it again. I even won a bet with a friend, and ended up getting his old iPhone, that by the time my wife saw mine, she wanted one too, so it all worked out right? RIGHT-Enjoy

I was driving home from work one day last week, and spotted some protesters on the corner of 7th street and McDowell here in Phoenix. I decided to go check it out, I mean I had no idea what they were protesting but I had to see, plus this was a great photo opportunity! As I got out of the car, I grabbed my camera bag and walked up to the protesters, there were a couple of Phoenix police officers there, and asked them if I could shoot some images, they looked at me a little funny, and said yea it was a public street, and to go ahead.

As I started to shoot I thought, how little impact we have on this issue,

I mean after all it is the extremely wealthy that control all of this, but I do give those folks credit for standing up for what they believe in on a hot summer day in Arizona. I will make one prediction right now though, I think the forces at work that control the gas ( it is not the president , it is the power hungry 2% of the earth’s population that control all of this) will push the price up to at least 5 dollars a gallon this time next year, I guess only time will tell if I am correct or not.

The other day I got an email from a friend and it was talking about boycotting certain gas stations, so I thought wow this would be great! It would be nice to have some control over our destiny for sure. I am totally in for a concept like this. Before I commit to something like this I wanted to be sure, since there is an Arco nearby and I would use that station ( since on the email it states they do not import gas from the middle east), although I don’t like how they process debit cards, I mean it is a pain, go to the island, pay, go back to the car, what pump number did I put in? Pump the gas, then have to go back to the island to get the receipt , and for that work I get to pay an extra fee. Nice!

Anyway I did do some checking and as it turns out this is false, sounded like a great idea but not to be. Below is the email I received, after that you will see the stats I pulled directly from the Energy Information Administration department website.

WHERE TO BUY AMERICAN GASOLINE.  THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON.
Notice the bit on Wal-Mart gas! Very interesting! Are you aware that the Saudis are boycotting American products? Shouldn’t we return the favor? Can’t we take control of our own destiny and let these giant oil importers know who REALLY generates their profits, their livings? How about leaving American Dollars in America and reduce the import/export deficit?

An appealing remedy might be to boycott their GAS. Every time you fill up your car you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia . Just purchase gas from companies that don’t import their oil from the Saudis. Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill up my tank, I’m sending my money to people who I get the impression want me, my family and my friends dead. Don’t you think it might be of interest to know which oil companies import Middle Eastern oil and which do not? CITGO oil is imported from Venezuela by Dictator Hugo Chavez, who hates America and openly avows our economic destruction!  We pay Chavez’s regime nearly $10 Billion per year in oil revenues!

The U.S. currently imports 5,517,000 barrels of crude oil per day from OPEC. If you do the math at $95 per barrel, that’s over $524 million PER DAY ($191 BILLION per year!) handed over to OPEC, many of whose members are our confirmed enemies!!!!!

Print this out and put it in your car the next time you go to buy gas


These companies import Middle Eastern oil:
Shell……………………………….. 205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco………………… 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon /Mobil…………………….. 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway………….. 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco……………………………… 62,231,000 barrels
And CITGO oil is imported from Venezuela and Dictator Hugo Chavez

Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:
Sunoco……………………. 0 barrels
Conoco…………………… 0 barrels
Sinclair…………………… 0 barrels
BP / Phillips…………….. 0 barrels
Hess. ……………………… 0 barrels
ARCO…………………….. 0 barrels
Maverick…………………. 0 barrels
Flying J. …………………. 0 barrels
Valero…………………….. 0 barrels
And Murphy Oil USA sold at Wal-Mart


All of this information is available from the U.S. Department of Energy and each company is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing.

But to have a real impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers With the help of the Internet, it’s really simple to do. I’m sending this note to about thirty people.. If each of you send it to at only ten more (30 x 10 = 300)….and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)…..and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers!!

Below is the real deal on fuel imports, it basically states there is no way to track gas imports on a retail location basis, since the refineries are the ones that actually distribute the fuel. “Source: Energy Information Administration.

This is the synopsis:

“Do consumers impact gasoline prices?

Consumers have very little power as individuals but, if enough consumers give the same “market signal,” they can impact prices. First, when consumers buy gasoline at service stations in their areas with the lowest price, they take market share away from higher-priced stations; these stations may then eventually reduce their prices to be more competitive. The second way consumers impact the market is by reducing gasoline consumption. If enough people reduce driving or switch to more energy-efficient vehicles, gasoline demand would decline and prices would be dampened.”

Energy Information Administration (EIA) Logo – Need Help? 202-586-8800

Glossary
Home > Frequently Asked Questions > Primer on Gasoline Sources and Markets

Primer on Gasoline Sources and Markets

Where does gasoline come from?

Gasoline is made from crude oil. Refineries take crude oil and break down its hydrocarbons into different products, called “refined products,” including gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gases, and residual fuel oil. The characteristics of the gasoline depend on the type of crude oil that is used and the setup of the refinery at which it is produced. Gasoline characteristics are also impacted by other ingredients that may be blended into it, such as ethanol. The performance of the gasoline must meet industry standards and environmental regulations that may depend on location.

In 2005, United States refineries produced over 90 percent of the gasoline used in the United States. Less than 40 percent of the crude oil used by U.S. refineries was produced in the United States. About 45 percent of gasoline produced in the United States comes from refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast (including Texas and Louisiana).

Can I tell which country or State the gasoline at my local station comes from?

For several reasons, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) cannot definitively say where gasoline at a given station originated:

1. EIA does not collect data on the source of the gasoline sold at retail outlets.

2. The name on the service station sign does not tell the whole story. The fact that you purchase gasoline from a given company does not necessarily mean that the gasoline was actually produced by that particular company’s refineries. While gasoline is sold at about 169,000 retail outlets across the nation1, about one-third of these stations are “unbranded” dealers that may sell gasoline of any brand2. The remainder of the outlets are “branded” stations, but may not necessarily be selling gasoline produced at that company’s refineries. This is because gasoline from different refineries is often combined for shipment by pipeline, and companies owning service stations in the same area may be purchasing gasoline at the same bulk terminal. In that case, the only difference between the gasoline at station X versus the gasoline at station Y may be the small amount of additives that those companies add to the gasoline before it gets to the pump.

3. Even if we knew at which company’s refinery the gasoline was produced, the source of the crude oil used at that refinery may vary on a day-to-day basis. Most refiners use a mix of crude oils from various domestic and foreign sources. The mix of crude oils can change based on the relative cost and availability of crude oil from different sources.

Can I tell which companies purchase imported crude oil or gasoline?

While EIA cannot identify which companies are selling imported gasoline, EIA does collect data on which companies import crude oil and refined products. However, the fact that a given company imported crude oil or gasoline does not mean that those particular imports will end-up being sold to motorists as that company’s brand of gasoline. The origin of the crude oil that a refinery processes is determined by market economics at a given time and may change from month-to-month or even day-to-day. Company-level import data can be found at:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/cli.html

What does it mean that oil is part of a “global” market?

The United States and many other countries in the world consume more refined products (i.e., gasoline, diesel, heating oil, and jet fuel) than can be produced without using crude oil that is imported from other countries. At the same time, certain countries export more crude oil than they consume. When crude oil supplies from one country/source drop off, world oil demand is still met but with a different mix of crude oil supplies. When the overall supply of crude oil decreases, the world market “tightens” and prices usually rise.

Can consumers reduce the revenues flowing to a certain country or countries by boycotting companies that have a history of importing from those countries?

Due to the global nature of the oil market, boycotts by individual consumers or even individual countries cannot reduce the oil revenues of a given oil producing country/countries. At best, consumer boycotts of a company known to import crude oil would result in a temporary reduction in the market share of that particular company. Because the overall consumer demand for products made from oil (like gasoline and diesel fuel) would be unchanged, the oil would simply be purchased by some other company.

Similar market shifts would occur if an entire country or countries refused to buy oil from a certain country/region, or were legally prevented from doing so. The boycotting countries would take additional imports from different countries, and those countries would purchase additional supplies from the boycotted country/region. Due to the nature of the world oil market, it is impossible to impact the oil revenues flowing to a given country or region with anything short of a sanctions regime, wherein all countries pledge to avoid buying from a particular country.

Do consumers impact gasoline prices?

Consumers have very little power as individuals but, if enough consumers give the same “market signal,” they can impact prices. First, when consumers buy gasoline at service stations in their areas with the lowest price, they take market share away from higher-priced stations; these stations may then eventually reduce their prices to be more competitive. The second way consumers impact the market is by reducing gasoline consumption. If enough people reduce driving or switch to more energy-efficient vehicles, gasoline demand would decline and prices would be dampened.

1 Energy Information Administration, A Primer on Gasoline Prices, DOE/EIA-X040, September 2005.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/gasolinepricesprimer/eia1_2005primerM.html

2 Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Gas Prices: How Are They Really Set, Section III, page 45, May 2002.

http://www.senate.gov/~gov_affairs/042902gasreport.htm

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