Prediction: British Petroleum is about to go down.

[arcadian]

Per haps be taken over, merge or just pull it's U.S. operations. Just my observations. BP station near me. The tanks are always low which decreases the pump pressure and makes it so that when you pump 12 gallons of gasoline it takes about 20 minutes. Very slow. It's always liken this at this particular gas station. Also, the owners are always "shutting down" pumps by putting this "pumps closed" yellow plastic bags over certain pumps. Always, different pumps at different times.

Didn't notice anything when I thought it was just this BP station near me, then I saw it a BP station when traveling over 100 miles away, same situation, slow gas and closed pumps. Then at another one. I think they aren't getting as many shipments from their suppliers.

I have also noticed that a lot of BP stations have been bought out by independents or have just shut down completely and closed shop. Quite a few BP stations with the green and yellow painted buildings now owned by independent oil concerns. Green and yellow building with new signage over the BP sign.

These are credible markers that something is going down with that company.

[Fenris]

1. A lot of BP stations are independently owned.

Or owned and operated by a regional oil company. You don't happen to live near Bay County, Florida, do you? Because there was a recent story about BP stations closing up for no apparent reason there.

If BP was to be bought by a competing oil company, there would be no visible supply disruption, nor is there likely to be any retail location closings. When smaller companies are absorbed into larger oil companies, the larger company will usually just rebrand the former company's stations. Seeing as BP is the world's 3rd largest oil company, I don't see a merger or acquisition happening anytime soon.

[arcadian]

2. That is a strange story.

Per haps they are just sitting on their supply to force prices up.

[squawk7700]

3. I don't have any inside dope on BP, but the amount of gas in the tanks has nothing to do with

the pump volumetrics.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. How do their prices compare to other stations in your area?

In the county where I live in California, Costco has three of the lowest-priced gas stations among the four cheapest. I don't think I've noticed any BP stations.

[Holly_Hobby]

5. My husband works for a BP refinery

$15 billion in upgrades.

[unkachuck]

6. strange....

....two Citgo stations near me were closed all day Thursday with a sign in their windows, "Out of Gas"....what's happening?

[A HERETIC I AM]

7. What's happening? The world is coming to an end. Don't you read DU?

Perhaps they were just out of gas. Maybe they ran out before their next scheduled delivery. Maybe the answer is really simple.


Or maybe there is no more gas left, and you are the first one to see evidence of it.

[unkachuck]

11. or maybe it's really complex....

....a vast right-wing conspiracy to ship our oil and jobs to China and India in order to curry favor for large shipments of Detroit guzzlers so wall-street and the American auto giants will have the necessary profits to fill mcSames war-chest to defeat Obama and the Democrats this fall....

....no more gas, no more jobs, broken down old cars, four more years....only rich repugs will be seen at the polls this November....I bet that's their secret plan....

[EstimatedProphet]

8. So you think this is on purpose?

I'm not sure I follow what you are saying. Do you think this is a strategy being used by BP because they are running out of supplies for some reason? Because, if that's what you're thinking, it wouldn't work. If a company does things to slow down sales, they will go out of business in this climate, and they all know that. Knowing that, I can't see them trying to do it on purpose.

[ileus]

9. I love BP petrol, but they're always 17 cents highter than Xon and Citgo

[TexasObserver]

10. BP bottomed out just before Bush started the Iraq Oil War

It's been bouncing between $60 and $80 a share the past three years. Right now it is making and spending a ton of money, much of it on refinery upgrades.

I don't know why the particular station has problems getting gasoline, but I doubt it has anything to do with BP's financial status, but that of the owner. Where there is demand, there is gasoline.

[Initech]

12. Arco (BP subsidiary) stations are always packed arond here.

That's because most of them usually charge about $0.25 less than everyone else (but always tack a $0.45 ATM withdrawl fee on top of it).

[moondust]

13. Spotty.

One BP station near me almost always looks abandoned. Another one (next to a mall) is always busy.

Sierra Club rates BP high relative to others (as of a year ago): http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/pickyourpoison/