BP no longer Top Tier?

[newtoncd8]

Thanks I will stick with Sam’s Club gasoline that is 25¢ to 35¢ per gallon cheaper than the other gas stations around here.

You’ve got something special there. Around here it’s a difference of 5 to 10 cents, same as Costco.

Our area is similar to wdn's. Sam's is routinely 25-35 cents cheaper than the stations in the immediate vicinity.
Neither are top tier.

 

[y_p_w]

BP & Texaco both left South Central Pennsylvania several years ago, Hess was replaced by Speedway, we had one Valero station that closed 2 years ago. Locally, the majority of gas sales seems to be large grocery stores with a points system like Giant & Weis, convenience stores like Sheetz and Rutters, only Rutters advertises Toptier. A Speedway recently converted to Exxon. My fallback is a Shell station or Sunoco. Costco is a 35 mile round trip and usually has long waiting lines, my Shell and Sunoco cards give me 5 cents off, Exxon 6 cents. Strangely, 40 miles to the south in Maryland, many BP and Shell stations are doing business. Gasoline marketing is seriously frustrating. Most local dealers of all brands are either $3.55.9 or $3.59.9 for 87, almost no competition.

Base fuel is a fungible commodity. The fuel itself is traded and moved by oil companies, fuel marketers, and pipeline companies.

For example, in California, Shell sold off its last refinery in California a few years ago. They maintain some distribution facilities in Southern California, but Shell itself doesn't make California reformulated gasoline. Obviously they buy or trade for it one way or another to get the fuel to distribute to their retailers. I've heard some claims that they use their own distribution network and terminals, but they don't have anything in my area, which suggests to me that they probably get it from a Kinder Morgan or Transmontaigne terminal.

The additive is proprietary, but it may not be unique. Most of the big brands don't use the generic additive available at the lowest required concentration for EPA requirements. And even if they are Top Tier, that can be achieved with an off the shelf additive from one of the big guys like Chevron Oronite (which sells to Chevron's competitors), BASF, Lubrizol, or Afton. There doesn't have to be anything unique to meet Top Tier. Two marketers could be using the same thing.

And BASF makes the Invigorate additive for BP/Amoco. It's right on the EPA website.

 

[raeliak]

According to the Top Tier program: "BP recently made the decision to no longer participate in the TOP TIER™ program and their BP and Amoco brands have been removed from the list of licensed brands on www.toptiergas.com."