Did you know that Citgo is on every Navy base in the United States? To me, there is just something wrong with doing business with a dictator like Chavez, who, with his new bud Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has all but declared war on us. So why should our Navy be doing business with Citgo U.S.?
According to an official at Pensacola NAS, it is because the Navy put that contract out for bid and Citgo was the only company to offer a bid. I find it hard to believe that no other ‘domestic’ oil company bid for the job but will allow for the possibility.
The good news is that the contracts, there are two, are going to expire in 2008 and 2010, according to the official I spoke to at Pensacola NAS. Unless we are prepared to invade Venezuela to insure Chavez performs on his contracts, I think the risk to our national security is not worth taking and we should look to another truly domestic supplier. Granted that Citgo U.S. employs U.S. citizens, but so does Exxon and the rest of them. I’d rather give the business to the company that I trust would perform on the contract under any and all circumstances than to trust Chavez to not shut off the supply.
A stronger case for being self-sufficient where our oil production is concerned cannot be made when you have to trust people like Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez. Trusting him is more like playing a game of Russian roulette with a fully loaded weapon.
The solution to this dilemma is to simply get another vendor to bid and find out why none of them bid on it the last time. Are our US owned oil companies not able to compete? Was the request for bids written in such a way that Citgo was the only company that could meet the criteria?
My sympathy goes out to all those dedicated U.S. employees who make a living working for Citgo U.S. because it isn’t their fault that Chavez is an untrustworthy idiot. My fondest wish is that all of them can find jobs in the industry with other oil companies and give Hugo Chavez a present on the next May Day celebration by walking out the door on May 1, 2008.
related links, Get Citgo out of our military bases