Sunday, March 25, 2007
AN AUTOMOBILE service station in Nebraska recently began promoting a brand of "terror-free gasoline" at its pumps a move that has some Middle East experts crying foul.
Catching the wave of rising United States focus on energy independence, a new website has set out to tell motorists where they can fill up without having to worry that the proceeds will "finance terrorism by importing oil from the Middle East".
The website www.terrorfreeoil.org identifies oil companies deemed to use home-grown oil supplies from the US and Canada rather than the Middle East including Amerada Hess, Sunoco Inc and Sinclair Oil.
"Financing for terrorism comes from one place and that is the Middle East," said Joe Kaufman, a spokesman for the Terror-Free Oil Initiative.
Middle East experts see creeping xenophobia in the effort, and liken it to when Dubai Ports World triggered a political firestorm when it tried to buy US facilities last year.
"It's a marketing gimmick," said Fahad Nazer a fellow at the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington. "It seems like a lot of knee-jerk reaction without really much substance or circumspection behind it."
Nevertheless, the first US station to sell certified "terror-free" gasoline recently opened at 12901 Q Street in Omaha, Nebraska, with "terror-free" grades of premium, super and regular unleaded gasoline grades marked on the pump.
The group is also fielding inquiries in 32 other US states, the District of Columbia, as well as in Canada, Australia, Great Britain and Norway.
US politicians including President George W Bush say they want motorists to use more home-grown fuels like ethanol to replace imports from Middle East suppliers, including Opec powerhouse Saudi Arabia, a key US ally. About 17 per cent of US crude oil imports come from the Middle East region.
Bush and other politicians, both Democrat and Republican, have focused on the link between the security of US energy supply and national security.
Energy independence has been painted as a pipe dream by some US energy analysts who say that imports have nowhere to go but up but it has deep political resonance.
The idea has taken hold with US industry, which sees it as a way to promote the growing use of ethanol, made from corn or other non-food sources like switchgrass.
For their part, refiners with the "terror-free" stamp of approval caution that their oil-buying practices are driven by economics, not patriotism.
Amerada Hess' refineries don't process oil from Middle East nations, but are instead set up to run oil from Venezuela, West Africa and the North Sea, said company spokesman Jay Wilson. "I don't want to appear too virtuous," Wilson said. "It's business." Reuters
Catching the wave of rising United States focus on energy independence, a new website has set out to tell motorists where they can fill up without having to worry that the proceeds will "finance terrorism by importing oil from the Middle East".
The website www.terrorfreeoil.org identifies oil companies deemed to use home-grown oil supplies from the US and Canada rather than the Middle East including Amerada Hess, Sunoco Inc and Sinclair Oil.
"Financing for terrorism comes from one place and that is the Middle East," said Joe Kaufman, a spokesman for the Terror-Free Oil Initiative.
Middle East experts see creeping xenophobia in the effort, and liken it to when Dubai Ports World triggered a political firestorm when it tried to buy US facilities last year.
"It's a marketing gimmick," said Fahad Nazer a fellow at the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington. "It seems like a lot of knee-jerk reaction without really much substance or circumspection behind it."
Nevertheless, the first US station to sell certified "terror-free" gasoline recently opened at 12901 Q Street in Omaha, Nebraska, with "terror-free" grades of premium, super and regular unleaded gasoline grades marked on the pump.
The group is also fielding inquiries in 32 other US states, the District of Columbia, as well as in Canada, Australia, Great Britain and Norway.
US politicians including President George W Bush say they want motorists to use more home-grown fuels like ethanol to replace imports from Middle East suppliers, including Opec powerhouse Saudi Arabia, a key US ally. About 17 per cent of US crude oil imports come from the Middle East region.
Bush and other politicians, both Democrat and Republican, have focused on the link between the security of US energy supply and national security.
Energy independence has been painted as a pipe dream by some US energy analysts who say that imports have nowhere to go but up but it has deep political resonance.
The idea has taken hold with US industry, which sees it as a way to promote the growing use of ethanol, made from corn or other non-food sources like switchgrass.
For their part, refiners with the "terror-free" stamp of approval caution that their oil-buying practices are driven by economics, not patriotism.
Amerada Hess' refineries don't process oil from Middle East nations, but are instead set up to run oil from Venezuela, West Africa and the North Sea, said company spokesman Jay Wilson. "I don't want to appear too virtuous," Wilson said. "It's business." Reuters