A subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), the Venezuelan state-owned petroleum company, a US incorporated firm refiner and marketer of gasoline and other petroleum products, with several gas stations spread across US.

History:

The CITGO Oil gasoline brand was inaugurated in 1965 by the Cities Service Company, a United States based energy company that first rose to prominence in the early 1900s. Cities Service was acquired by Occidental Petroleum Corporation in 1982 and transferred all of the assets of its refining, marketing and transportation division into the newly formed CITGO Oil Petroleum Corporation subsidiary, to ease the divestiture of the division. In 1983 this subsidiary was sold by Occidental to Southland Corporation, owners of the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores; 50% was sold to Petroleos de Venezuela in 1986, and the remainder in 1990. As of 2004, it is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with over 4,000 employees and annual revenue in excess of $32 billion. CITGO Oil has supplied 14,000 retailers, but in July 2006 announced plans to cease serving 14% of their independent retailers in the United States. More information on Wikipedia

CITGO Oil

This petroleum corporation refers to its logo as the "trimark." A large, double-faced sign featuring this logo overlooks Fenway Park in Boston and has become a landmark, partly because of its appearance in the background in televised baseball games. But some persons in United States have critiqued the prominence given to this symbol of a company closely associated with the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

Petro Express:

Variants circulating since November 2006 claim that some CITGO Oil stations have changed their name to Petro Express. Petro Express is a chain of gas stations/convenience stores wholly owned by a U.S. company based in North Carolina. Until recently, Petro Express did sell gasoline purchased from CITGO Oil Petroleum Corp., but the company announced in October 2006 that it would phase out the product of this oil company from all of its 66 stations by 2007. About

CITGO Oil

Wikipedia

CITGO Oil Boycott Headquarters

About

USA Today

The Heating Oil Program

Chavez has been making several controversial statements despite his government's ownership of a firm which was heavily dependent on U.S. consumer support. In January 2007 he was quoted as saying "go to hell, gringos" in response to criticism from the U.S. government regarding his decisions as Venezuelan president. President Chavez has stated he will enact reforms to make Venezuela a socialist state, including the nationalization of the telecom, energy and natural gas sectors.

CITGO Oil petroleum corporation

Some persons have been asking to US residents not to buy oil and petroleum products from CITGO Oil's gas stations. In United States there is and organization who has already started a boycott to this Venezuela oil company.

"Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is an outspoken anti-American who has referred to our President as "The Devil". Chavez allies closely with countries who are pro-communist, resent the USA and sponsor worldwide terrorism. Profits from its fuel purchases go directly to the government of Hugo Chavez. Additionally, CITGO Oil's refinery in Lake Charles, LA has frequent environmental violations including discharge of cancer-causing waste materials into waterways and the Gulf of Mexico". CITGO Oil Boycott Headquarters

One thing that could serve as an example of how President Chavez has been using CITGO Oil petroleum company as a political tool to promote his so called "Socialism of 21st Century" is the Heating Oil Program. The CITGO Oil Heating Oil Program was created in 2005, in partnership with Citizens Energy Corporation in response to a decreased oil supply resulting from hurricanes Katrina and Rita (according to CITGO Oil itself).

Chavez said "We are all americanos, and together we share the Bolivarian mission of giving hope and a better life to the poorest and most vulnerable...", but while he is doing this in US, you could see more and more homeless and/or poor persons marauding the streets of the main cities in Venezuela, getting inside fast food places and restaurants, going each table asking for some food.

Fair use in CITGO Oil Logo Though the image is subject to copyright, its use is covered by the U.S. fair use laws because the image is used as the primary means of visual identification of the topic.

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