gasoline

A long time ago I worked at a company in the Boston area that was near a shipping channel that had several tank facilities of major gas companies. A lunch time diversion was to watch the tankers coming in to disgorge their loads. There was the Mobil shop at the pier right across from us one day. The next day she would be up the channel at Amerada-Hess unloading the rest of her cargo. This sort of destroyed my thoughts of brand loyalty. This was further reinforced by the small independent gas station that was up the street from these tank farms (there were other companies bside the two mentioned). Rumor was that this station bought gas from the various tank trucks coming in at the end of the day. This station was cheaper than anyone around and we bought our gas from them without a clue as to what company had actually delivered it.

Okay. Now fast forward three decades. The current vehicle is a 92 Explorer. I am the original owner. The truck now has about 152k on it. And I am about

1500 miles south of Boston. Up the road from me the two closest gas stations are a Mobile and a Hess. I have found over a period of time that I have a starting problem if I fill up with Hess. It always takes two tries to start a cold engine. No other symptoms just a little problem starting a cold engine. No such problem with Mobil across the street.

I have found similar problems with other major gas companies and with gas at places like Sam's, BJ's etc. I have tried going back to a "problem" fuel after doing some minor tune up activity - plugs, wires, clean MAF, etc - but none of those things have ever made a difference. The starting problem remains. So after years of saying gas is gas, I now have to be picky.

So you tell me. Is there a difference? I don't know, but that 92 Explorer can sure tell.

Charlie

ps. Gas company reps who think I have wronged them are free to eMail me to set up an appointment to come and visit and see for themselves. cb

my sister previously owned a small convenience store that had a couple of 'no-brand' gasoline pumps.

their gas is cheaper.

is their gas any good?? i have used a couple of tanks with no problems.

My understanding: Arco trucks it's own gas into Phx., the others use pipeline. The gas thru the pipeline is all tanked commonly; the difference between brands is made at the truck loading island, where the different additive packages are added as the gas is pumped into the truck. Phoenix uses a special blend (using MTBE) during the summer, which doesn't come from California, thus the dependancy on the one pipeline from Tucson.

Our Governor LIED during her first media even about the gas 'problem', saying it was one of distribution, not supply. She said the gas was in the tank farms, it just couldn't be gotten tot he stations fast enough. If so, why did the stations run out of gas on SATURDAY morning, before the panic buying started? Why was the distribution system OK for all the other Saturdays before that?

Also, why did prices in other states make such a dramatic jump at the same time?

I'm not sure when the pipe broke, when the news got out, and the panic really started. But, in times of "limited supply", people will keep tanks full when normally they run about half full. 5 or 10 extra gallons per vehicle, times the number of vehicles, and thats an instantaneous hit on the supply.

Now, why did the price go up in other areas? I'll bet that some enterprising companies were trucking less expensive fuel from other areas to the high return Phoenix area, causing a reduction of supply in the previously cheaper markets. Couple that to the northeast power outage and a general reduction in supplies of crude oil that makes for increase in prices. Thankfully, as our economy is recovering, other nations aren't yet and that will help keep down the demand on world oil prices.

Another amazing tidbit, I heard on ABC news a while ago that there are over

30 different formulations of gasoline depending on what part of the country one is in. This "designer" gasoline (thanks to beloved local government officials) causes a major increase in price and less supply due to constraints on volume production. Further MTBE (also a government mandated additive) is now outlawed in California because it showed up in places that weren't near gas supplies.

I could be wrong, but that's my view.

If they do put their own special "juice" in at the tank farms,

why then does that same truck go to Chevron, Texaco, Diamond Shamrock all with out refueling at the farm?

Hmmmmmm

I believe the added oxygen fuels were mandated by the feds, the locals (state or county) had the choice of what mix they would use. I was speaking of the country as a whole, not the specifics of Phoenix.

From Richard:

The trucks do have multiple partitions in them. This is for different grades/brands of fuel. Most importantly it is to prevent "sloshing". Can you imagine the force of all that fuel moving to the front of back of the tank at one time?

/Richard