Anyone know where Costco gets its gasoloine from ?

I expect they get it out of the same national distribution pipelines as everybody else does. Basically *all* brands of gasoline are exactly the same base gas from the pipeline, the only difference is the additive packages that the different brands add to that base gasoline when they fill their delivery trucks.

Unless you are driving something with a high performance / high compression engine I expect it makes little difference what brand you use. I know my truck with the big block doesn't give a damn what crap I put in it and hasn't for the last 163,000+ miles.

Pete C.

The same place everyone else in the area gets it from.

Gasoline is gasoline. The only difference is in the special additives. All gasoline is mixed together in the shared pipelines. If Mobil puts

100,000 barrels in, they take a 100,000 barrels out from the other end. Odds are it won't be the same gasoline they put in. Same with everyone else. Cosco probably buys gasoline from someone, taking the amount purchased from the end of the pipline. As it goes into the tanker truck, the additives unique to the brand are added.

Gasoline is gasoline. Different beyond-the-minimum additive package at the most.

My car hasn't shown any brand preference for the last 147K either.

Costco probably buys it from whoever gives them the best deal, like Sam's Club/Walmart and other independents.

As for quality, there was a piece on Motorweek last week about 'top tier' gas. They had a woman from Shell talking about how you should only use 'top tier' gas in your car and showed a set of valves from a test engine they ran in their lab. According to her, it was a V6 that they had set up to run a 'top tier' gas in one cylinder bank and a 'lower tier' gas in the other. After the equivalent of 5000 (or was it 3000?) miles they tore the engine down and looked at the valves for deposits. The three that came from the 'top tier' bank were clean as a whistle and the three from the 'lower tier' bank were really grungy looking...huge carbon deposits. So, as good old Pat Goss said...you certainly wouldn't want to run your car on anything but 'top tier' gas, now, would you? Kind of a thinly disguised commercial for Shell altho they never said whether Shell was 'top tier' or 'lower tier'. :-) I run my cars on Sam's Club gas...wonder which 'tier' it is???...

(They also slobbered all over themselves about the new Chevy Silvarado...sounded like Shell/GM-week instead of Motorweek. Kind of soured my opinion of Motorweek...)

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Brent P) wrote in news:vf2dnVInVpcR_eLYnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

Gasoline is traded freely across North American borders.

When you fill up at any particular brand of station, you have absolutely no idea where that gas came from. It may not even have originated with the company that owns that station's brand.

I see gasoline's price on the futures markets is currently about $1.60US.

Now having said all that, I think it might be worth rephrasing the OP"s question to read, "Anyone know if Costco specifies their own additive pack, or do they simply buy somebody else's existing retail mix?

Of course I'm only guessing but if the "other" gas built up that many deposits in only a few thousand miles it was most likely a gasoline with no detergent additives at all in it. Such a gas could not be legally sold. All gasolines must have an "additive pak" sufficient to pass EPA muster. There IS a difference in the quality of the additive paks. IMHO Chevron has the best with their techroline. However, most, if not all, of the additive effectiveness is dose dependent and to minimize cost some brands/non-brands will use the bare minimum to satisfy the EPA requirement while others will use more then the minimum. I believe it is very likely that the top-tier brands are using a little more then the bare minimum. Another "however" is that I read an article on this somewhere and I think it said Chevron was not participating in the top-tier program which makes me wonder if there is anything at all different about the top-tier other then perhaps a higher level of quality control or something like that along with a marketing effort.

Hey, I quite agree on the rephrasing. Anyone know if Costco specifies their own additive pack, or do they simply buy somebody else's existing retail mix?

The references to mixed in the pipeline gas are enlightening. I presently will have to assume that Costco adds or has added., or buys added to gas that is of decent quality. The rest of thier products are first class.

They are supplied by an independent company. Could be just about anyones base stock.

I filled up at Costco in Georgia yesterday as a BP tanker truck was unloading.

From my day job I know the distribution chain for this area and it all comes from the Doraville, GA terminal served by Kinder Morgan Plantation pipeline and Colonial Pipeline.

Here's some good info

( more than you ever wanted to know actually ) As far as automotive gasoline is concerned, except for BP Amoco Premium "water white", there is really only generic regular and premium in the pipelines. Regular can have up to 5% by volume of miscellaneous product in it (transmix).

Now as to the EPA attainment areas that's a different story, MTBE can go in the pipelines, ethanol cannot (it's added at the terminal) Atlanta, GA and 43 surrounding counties get Atlanta-gasoline only (special mix made in Baton Rouge refineries).

The web sites above will explain the many types of regular and premium but you have little choice - what is for sale in your area (MTBE, low sulfur) is determined by regulations and time of year.

Costco buys the cheapest fuel they can find from anyone. Other factors to consider are: How many times is it filtered before it gets in your tank? Texaco filtered their fuel at 5 stages from the pipe line to your tank.

How careful the delivery truck handles fuel. If their previous load was thick road oil and the driver didn't 100 percent clean out the trailer, that crap goes in your tank. The filter at the station doesn't always stop foreign liquids. There was a Shell station that had a dirty delivery truck give them so much gunk in a load that about 20 cars didn't make it a mile away before stopping. Shell had to pay for all those that came back to have their gas tanks removed and fuel systems cleaned. It took 20 50 gallon drums to contain the gunk that was in their underground tank.

A lot of bad gasoline problems are caused by delivery drivers and trucks.

In east Texas, the supplier seems to be Murphy Oil and Gas...Dont know where they get it.