Categories: OLD Media Moves

Libya references in rising U.S. gas prices stories are misguided

Hal Morris, writing on his GrumpyEditor.com blog, notes that the U.S. business news media is wrong to mention the Libyan unrest as a reason for rising gas prices — the country gets just 0.5 percent of its oil from the African country.

Morris writes, “One publication mentioning the minor role of Libyan oil imports is The Wall Street Journal. Today’s top front-page story on Libyan oil mentions, ‘The U.S. is a small customer of Libya.’ But that’s in the 17th paragraph of the 22-paragraph article.

“Gasoline prices are up a hefty 34 cents a gallon, on average, in just 13 days, reports AAA.

“Among nations receiving Libya’s crude exports, the U.S. gets a minuscule 0.5 percent (that’s half of one percent for those confused by decimal points). That puts the U.S. at the bottom of the list of key nations on the receiving end of Libyan oil.

“Put another way, the U.S. receives only 51,000 barrels a day via Libya.

“That compares to Ireland, topping the list in importing 23 percent of its crude from Libya. It is followed by Italy with 22 percent and Austria with 21 percent.”