Editing Citgo (section)

===United States–Venezuela relations===
{{further|United States–Venezuela relations}}
[[File:7-11 Citgo message.jpg|thumb|right|Sign on a 7-Eleven gas station pump]] [[Texaco]] sold some Citgo gas stations in the southeast when [[Chevron Corporation|Chevron]] gained exclusive rights to the [[Texaco]] brand name in the U.S. in June 2006. On September 27, 2006, the [[7-Eleven]] chain of convenience stores announced its 20-year contract with Citgo was coming to an end and would not be renewed. 7-Eleven spokeswoman Margaret Chabris said "Regardless of politics, we sympathize with many Americans' concern over derogatory comments about our country and its leadership recently made by Venezuela's president. Certainly [[Hugo Chavez|Chavez]]'s position and statements over the past year or so didn't tempt us to stay with Citgo."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR2006092800262.html| title=7-Eleven Drops Citgo As Gas Supplier| last=Koenig| first=David| newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]| date=September 28, 2006| agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

7-Eleven stations subsequently went either unbranded or switched to competitor brands, most notably [[Marathon Petroleum|Marathon]], which owned rival chain [[Speedway (store)|Speedway]] at the time. (Marathon coincidentally sold Speedway to 7-Eleven in 2021.) Marathon purchased Citgo's assets in [[Ohio]] during this time and led to the near-complete withdrawal of the Citgo brand from the state except in the [[Youngstown, Ohio|Youngstown]] area, which were supplied by Citgo terminals in neighboring [[Pennsylvania]] due to its proximity to the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.<ref>{{cite news |date=October 22, 2007 |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/10/22/daily1.html |title=Marathon buying Ohio Citgo terminals |work=Columbus Business First}}</ref> In the years since, Marathon has had periods of considering buying Citgo outright, with the Venezuelan ownership being a major roadblock.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://cspdailynews.com/mergers-acquisitions/marathon-now-interested-citgo-assets | title=Marathon Now Interested in CITGO Assets? }}</ref> In 2024, the Folk Oil Company of Homer, Michigan began rebranding 43 PS Marts from Sunoco to Citgo.  The rebranding spans south east Michigan and Northwest Ohio.

Citgo launched a national ad campaign in the fall of 2006 emphasizing the company's [[corporate social responsibility]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003314396| title=Citgo To Gush About Its Charitable Side| magazine=[[Adweek]]| date=October 25, 2006| access-date=2007-04-04| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927045907/http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003314396| archive-date=2007-09-27| url-status=dead}}</ref> National television ads featuring [[Joseph Patrick Kennedy II|Joe Kennedy]] also aired through February 2007 featuring ordinary Americans thanking Citgo and Venezuela for providing discounted [[heating oil]] to low-income people.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/23/AR2007022302000.html| title=Is Citgo Program for Poor, or for Chávez?| first1=Jeffrey H.| last1=Birnbaum| first2=Steven| last2=Mufson| newspaper=The Washington Post| date=February 24, 2007}}</ref>