Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Who Has The Best Fuel?

JavaContour,

I never said that the refinery puts ethanol into the gasoline at the refinery and then puts it into the pipeline going to the terminal. Actually not all areas have to put ethanol into the gasoline. Also I have never heard of an oil refinery making ethanol. The refinery I work at does not put any additives into the gasoline before it gets to the terminal. All the additives are added at the terminals. Again, I bet there are exceptions to this. The gasoline you buy in any large metropolitan area will have the additives added at the terminal.

If you have any more questions on how gasoline is made or how it gets to the gas station, just let me know and will explain it to you. I work with people who actually make, sell, and transport gasoline and other products produced in oil refineries.

Nope, didn't say you said that. I was just thinking out loud mostly about how and where gasoline is made and sold.

Now that you mention it, with the umpteen or so gasoline formulations mandated by the EPA in different areas of the nation, can a refinery make many different formulations then pipe them to the region? Or are these so different cost of "switching" to a different formula generally to prohibitive to make it worth while?

I know these different formulas can play havoc with regional gasoline prices when a refinery goes down. (We have very little reserve capacity, and haven't built a new refinery in several decades, IIRC.)

I also know that refineries don't manufacture the ethanol, but did learn from that Chevron site I linked, that it is generally blended at the terminal.

Thanks for the information, I love to learn new stuff, so share the secrets man

TB

I would say get gas from the gas station that was most recently built. I would think the gas in their tanks would be cleaner.

Guys, thanks for all the input...

You get what you pay for in gas. Cars with high compression ratios are more finicky for sure.

I swear, when I put Amoco/Standard in my car it feels faster. Does it with my Integra, and it did it for my Contour as well.

The last refinery built in the US was the Reliance refinery in Louisiana and it was built in the early 70's. Almost all of the small refineries (under 100,000 BPSD) have been closed. Compared to the early seventies, 50% of the refineries were closed by 1990. The small refineries that are still running are in niche markets. The big refineries have made up the loss by increasing capacity and efficiency.

I am sure you are aware that by 2006 all gasoline sold in the US must be less than 30 ppm sulfur. By 2007 all on road diesel sold in the US will be 15 ppm sulfur. Many of the remaining small refineries will close by the by 2007 since they can afford the expense of upgrading equipment to make gasoline and diesel to those low sulfur numbers. So by 2007, another 50% of refineries will be closed. Leaving only about a hundred or so refineries left in the US. I think in another 20 years there will be 20 to 30 very large refineries owned by large companies in the US. You are right almost every area in the US has a different blend of gasoline. The specs. are so numerous that it was that a book explain them.

Here in Maui, we only have:

unocal 76
shell
texaco (which is actually shell, because shell bought them out)
Chevron
Tesoro

I use only Chevron.

I chose Mobil since it is the only on your list here in Maine. I usually buy either Exxon (which bought Mobil so I figure it's the same thing) or Irving.

I don't see much difference in the way the Zetec performs based on brand, but Irving regular claims to have a detergent the others don't. I know a steady diet of anything else and I feel a need to add injector cleaner more often.

But it seem more important as to the station itself. Some have reputations for water, etc.

Find a place that treats you right, controls the price the best, and that your car likes.

i remember reading a comparison test that consumer reports or some mag did between mobil, exxon, and 2 more maybe amoco and shell. they found mobil to be the best based on (i think) the closeness of octane. just an example 87 octane coming in at 86 vs others of maybe 87 coming in lower at 84 or 85. i just made up the numbers to show the example. dont quote me.

Sunoco 94, because my car likes octane. Toss in a can of Xylene every now and again (mostly when I'm going to the track and plan on driving the snot out of it).