Quote:
Originally Posted by jd10013
yes you do. you know you are getting gas that is 99.99999999% the same as the gas at every other station in your area. every retail outlet in your area is buying their gas from one of only a couple distributors. drive buy the nearest wholesale distributor and you'll see trucks from every retailer there filling up.
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Well i live in Louisiana, where alot of oil comes from (the gulf). And we have refineries galore down here. All owned by different companies, Citgo, ExxonMobil, Conoco, Valero, Shell, etc.
Each one of those companies refines their own crude oil into their own gasoline, then adds their own additives, and sells it at their own gas stations.
Im not saying the fuels are very different but they dont all come from one or two refineries and change the name. Shell may have a more stringent refining process with more regulations or standards, than the conoco one for example.
Its my impression that the big gas stations refine their own, where the no name ones like "Discount Zone" or "Race Trac" just take what they can get from anywhere that will give it.
I personally believe that you cant go wrong with any of the bigger names like Shell, Exxon, etc.
Edit: After reading an article done by a chemist, it reinforces some of my points and answers some of the ones im unsure on:
http://www.vettenet.org/octane.html
Though they all refine and make their own fuel, besides the no name brand places, exxon may borrow base gasoline from shell to save on shipping, etc. Exxon still adds their own additives though.
This means that the different top tier refineries probably have the same standards for base gasoline (so they can trade), then do their own additives. That article is a great read.