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Gasoline is gasoline. Oil is refined to make gasoline. Let's use 87 octane as an example. Every refinery in the U.S. and Puerto Rico uses the exact same formula to make 87 octane. The gasoline [all brands] is shipped or piped to a tank farm. The tank farm owner doesn't know the difference between Mobil, Sunoco or Lukes. The gas is loaded in an unmarked tanker with a Bob's fuel delivery sign on the cab. The driver goes down the highway, drops 2500 gallons at Sunoco, makes a U turn and drops 2500 gallons at Lukes.
Sunoco does not have a direct pipeline from their refinery to your local Sunoco station. The local Sunoco station owner doesn't have a clue what refinery processed the gas in his retail tanks. Do you really think you are buying Sunoco oil out of the ground, processed at a Sunoco refinery transported on a Sunoco ship or through a Sunoco pipeline and stored at a Sunoco tank farm and is delivered in a Sunoco tanker at Sunoco station?
The engine in your vehicle doesn't know the difference or even care what brand of gasoline it is burning. Because 87 Octane is 87 Octane gasoline no matter what reason you think one brand is better than another.
Thank you, sir. I have had this debate so many times it makes my head spin. The only brand that still requires its stations to put in additives (company stations, not franchises) is Shell. Other than that, the only difference I know of is the possibility for contamination if someone has a bad tank or water getting in. Otherwise - it all comes from the same pipe.
Gasoline is gasoline. Oil is refined to make gasoline. Let's use 87 octane as an example. Every refinery in the U.S. and Puerto Rico uses the exact same formula to make 87 octane. The gasoline [all brands] is shipped or piped to a tank farm. The tank farm owner doesn't know the difference between Mobil, Sunoco or Lukes. The gas is loaded in an unmarked tanker with a Bob's fuel delivery sign on the cab. The driver goes down the highway, drops 2500 gallons at Sunoco, makes a U turn and drops 2500 gallons at Lukes.
Sunoco does not have a direct pipeline from their refinery to your local Sunoco station. The local Sunoco station owner doesn't have a clue what refinery processed the gas in his retail tanks. Do you really think you are buying Sunoco oil out of the ground, processed at a Sunoco refinery transported on a Sunoco ship or through a Sunoco pipeline and stored at a Sunoco tank farm and is delivered in a Sunoco tanker at Sunoco station?
How come I only see Sunoco trucks filling the tanks at Sunoco? I only see Hess trucks filling the tanks at Hess. I have never seen an unmarked truck at either station filling tanks.
If the gas station carries the name of an oil company, why wouldn’t it carry their gas? Matter of fact, they should be sued if they didn’t. As ss20ts said, have you ever seen Bob’s Fuel truck dumping fuel at Exxon station?
Gasoline is gasoline. Oil is refined to make gasoline. Let's use 87 octane as an example. Every refinery in the U.S. and Puerto Rico uses the exact same formula to make 87 octane. The gasoline [all brands] is shipped or piped to a tank farm. The tank farm owner doesn't know the difference between Mobil, Sunoco or Lukes. The gas is loaded in an unmarked tanker with a Bob's fuel delivery sign on the cab. The driver goes down the highway, drops 2500 gallons at Sunoco, makes a U turn and drops 2500 gallons at Lukes.
Sunoco does not have a direct pipeline from their refinery to your local Sunoco station. The local Sunoco station owner doesn't have a clue what refinery processed the gas in his retail tanks. Do you really think you are buying Sunoco oil out of the ground, processed at a Sunoco refinery transported on a Sunoco ship or through a Sunoco pipeline and stored at a Sunoco tank farm and is delivered in a Sunoco tanker at Sunoco station?
The engine in your vehicle doesn't know the difference or even care what brand of gasoline it is burning. Because 87 Octane is 87 Octane gasoline no matter what reason you think one brand is better than another.
Close but not entirely true. Some areas are served by a blend of fuel from different refineries, while some are only served by 1 or 2 refineries. In locations close to refineries local retailers can select which refinery they get fuel from through the jobber they have contracted with.
The biggest "brand" difference is the additives....period. Other than that its depends on the refiner. Not all are the same as they get crude oil from vastly different locations and they treat it differently. Some produce mostly true product while others produce something close and use creative blending techniques to pass testing requirements.
A more valid point of avoiding any particular store would be the condition of the storage tanks. Older stores more likely to have leaky tanks. Independent stores serviced by jobbers more likely to have crossed or contaminated fuel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rynldsbr
Thank you, sir. I have had this debate so many times it makes my head spin. The only brand that still requires its stations to put in additives (company stations, not franchises) is Shell. Other than that, the only difference I know of is the possibility for contamination if someone has a bad tank or water getting in. Otherwise - it all comes from the same pipe.
Lots of companies other than shell put additives in....and those additives aren't pointless.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ss20ts
How come I only see Sunoco trucks filling the tanks at Sunoco? I only see Hess trucks filling the tanks at Hess. I have never seen an unmarked truck at either station filling tanks.
Because larger franchises usually have their own service equipment and the advantage of cutting out the middle man and getting fuel straight from the refiner/pipeline. The smaller outfits and independents rely on jobbers to deliver the fuel. The jobbers and Hess/Sunoco etc trucks all pull up to the same exact fueling terminal. The only difference would be that some get their additives blended in at the terminal, some blend it in the stores tanks, and some choose not to put any additives in at all. Its still the exact same fuel.
Neither Sunoco nor Luke is certified as top tier gas, so neither will go in my Audi. It warns against using gas that's not certified as top tier right in the owner's manual. I usually fill up at Mobil or Shell even though it's about 20 cents more expensive than Sunoco in my area. Top Tier Gasoline
Top tier only means they have additives to clean fuel system. The specs of basic gasoline is same as required to be certified.Many race car have pure gas formula with no additive for it to be energy producing only. Fuels are measured by octane which is burning rate. Iso octane is pure 100 octane gasoline which is the measuring standard to measure against. Some use only no additive gasoline and add fuel system cleaners themselves by choice.
If the gas station carries the name of an oil company, why wouldn’t it carry their gas? Matter of fact, they should be sued if they didn’t. As ss20ts said, have you ever seen Bob’s Fuel truck dumping fuel at Exxon station?
I work at a refinery. I see Shell, Love's, Flying J, BP, Valero etc trucks all in the same line getting the same fuel.
Whats on the truck (brand) has no bearing to whats in the truck.
How could you expect Exxon to drive a tanker of fuel 1000 miles to service a town from their refinery when they could just drive it 20 miles from the closest BP/Valero/Tesoro etc refinery? How much do you wanna pay for fuel?
I work at a refinery. I see Shell, Love's, Flying J, BP, Valero etc trucks all in the same line getting the same fuel.
Whats on the truck (brand) has no bearing to whats in the truck.
How could you expect Exxon to drive a tanker of fuel 1000 miles to service a town from their refinery when they could just drive it 20 miles from the closest BP/Valero/Tesoro etc refinery? How much do you wanna pay for fuel?
I have tried numerous times to explain this and they don't want to read it because they don't want to believe it.
Mr. CSD has been a fuel hauler for more than 30 years and I have been on runs with him numerous times but I still know absolutely nothing about the real world of fuel.
I work at a refinery. I see Shell, Love's, Flying J, BP, Valero etc trucks all in the same line getting the same fuel.
So you are saying that a clearly marked Exxon truck is waiting in line to fill up at a Shell refinery? Not say it isn’t happening. This is like Hertz renting out Avis cars.
A friend of mine is local distributor for Chevron products including fuel. Techron is added at terminal which is why it called top tier. All Chevron and top tier brands are all carried by distributors and name is on tank. Other with none are just fuel haulers to other buyers that buy gasoline from say Chevron with no additive. Often if you look they add additive cleaner at pumps for a additional charge.
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