The truth about gas...

[wannafbody]

Gas is more marketing than reality. I've seen A,B,C,D trucks filling up at X terminal. In many cases different brand stations in the same market may be getting their gas from the same name brand terminal.

 

[StevieC]

I can't wait to see the responses to this...

 

[Trajan]

But then those trucks stop off to get the additives from the brand stations at terminal X. Cumberland Farms, for example, used Gulf brand gas, (They own the brand name.), but the delivery is made from the Sunoco refinery There is a long post here by fueltankerman explaining this.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

I was under the impression, depending upon the part of the country, most gas stations get the same gas from the same distributor's terminal. The exceptions, as I understand them,is VPower 93 where the additive is applied at gas station fill time and BP 93 has it's own thing going. Right? Wrong?

 

[tenderloin]

While it is true that gasoline is shared (one or two suppliers or so per area)between name brands and private labels, the additive package (if any) that the name brand gasoline uses is added at the rack when it goes into the truck tanks. Chevron gets Techron for an example added to the basic gasoline. While basic gasoline does meet minimum standards, there are in fact differences at the pump. If you bought gasoline and no Techron was found, or no nitrogen enriched in Shell...a lawsuit would sure be in order.

 

[Trajan]

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=277733&fpart=1 Good reading.

 

[Kruse]

 Originally Posted By: tenderloin

If you bought gasoline and no Techron was found, or no nitrogen enriched in Shell...a lawsuit would sure be in order.

True, if they got caught. In today's economic times, the people who actually go out and check the quality of the gas and the pumps are few and far between. I've heard of some states having only a couple of people to do this. However, I do remember that Diamond Shamrock paid for your fuel injector repair in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area back in the late 80's, but that was because hundreds of cars were DOA because of their gas.

 

[Win]

The majors absolutely can tell if it is their additive package in a stations tanks, and they can, and do, sample branded stations to make sure the right product is in the tanks. Enough bad samples to show a pattern of the vendor buying cheap gas and passing it off as branded will get the brand pulled. Lawsuits are fruitless to stop the brand being pulled at that point. I sell cheap generic unbranded gas at one of my rental properties, but I wouldn't put the gas I sell in my cars, or even my lawnmower. Only Shell goes in my gas burners. Gas is not gas so far as I am concerned, but I like the idea of so many people thinking that it is.

 

[daves87rs]

The bad is pretty much the same around here...private or major. That, and we have an issue with cheapness at our gas stations around here....

 

[firemachine69]

Not only that gentlemen, but the ULSD is typically added by the dealer himself!

 

[Shannow]

 Originally Posted By: Win

The majors absolutely can tell if it is their additive package in a stations tanks, and they can, and do, sample branded stations to make sure the right product is in the tanks.

When I was working in Shell servos, Shell would keep track of purchases, and tank volumes. If they had a suspect dealer, they might send a truck over unscheduled, and see how much residual volume really was in the tanks, as the driver needs to dip before dropping.

 

[Kruse]

 Originally Posted By: Win

The majors absolutely can tell if it is their additive package in a stations tanks, and they can, and do, sample branded stations to make sure the right product is in the tanks. Enough bad samples to show a pattern of the vendor buying cheap gas and passing it off as branded will get the brand pulled.

I have a family member who works part-time at a convenience store. This store has a sign out front that makes you think they are associated with a brand of petroleum that is known worldwide. While the gas sold at this convenience store is probably purchased from the parent company, the diesel is not. How does the owner do it? Well, he is a farmer and owns several thousand acres of land and he also has a truck line. The diesel that is purchased for the convenience store goes to his farm tractors and trucks. The cheaper no-name diesel goes into the conveniece store pumps. It really doesn't affect me because I currently don't drive a diesel vehicle. The owner is a friend of mine and will admit it while drinking a few beers. He has yet to get caught by the parent petroleum company and if he does, will just say that they loaded the diesel tanks wrong by accident. Not that it really affects anything, but I think there is more fuel being sold that is mislabeled than people think.

 

[Nederlander75]

I am now and have been since 16 meticulous about tracking my fuel economy. I will always get at least 10% better economy on Shell regardless of the station so I’m fairly confident that few, if any of their stations pass off cheap gas as brand name. I have also read countless articles about station owners complaining during hard times about the brand owner regulating where they get their gas from. I’m pretty certain the majors are very good about insuring their specific product is dispenses at least 99% of the time.

 

[Drew2000]

Just because a terminal pulls from the same pipeline, doesn't mean it's all the same product. Regular gas, Premium, home heating oil, diesel all use the same pipeline in batches and can be sent to dedicated leased storage tanks. http://www.pipeline101.com/Operating/batching_model.html Remember, about a year ago, numerous motorists were stranded in NJ because Getty wasn't maintaining their teminal tanks and delivered water-contaminated gasoline to their stations. Only Getty was affected, because the major-brands tend to have better quality controls on their product stream and storage.

 

[crinkles]

that's good to know. I just am stil worried that shell shells dodgu singapore petrol under the coles/shell brand (same for woolworths/caltex). Servo near here is caltex proper, tust them... mostly... they did put a footlong WIX filter on the E10 pump which i noticed

 

[crw]

Yep, nice animation Drew2000, showing the flow of different fuels through the same pipeline. I always knew that they insert some sort of "marker" to tell when one type of fuel ends and another begins. Jet fuel? Wow, I wonder what would happen if the gas you buy was close to the division between that gas and another type... if there is some mixing around the edges?

 

[Drew2000]

 Originally Posted By: crw

..... Jet fuel? Wow, I wonder what would happen if the gas you buy was close to the division between that gas and another type... if there is some mixing around the edges?

There's no mechanical seperation between the products. Actually very little mixes in transit. In the animation, the black slugs are called "transmix", where the different products touch. The transmix is collected between batches and re-refined into the seperate (now generic) products again.