Ron Jones wrote ...
> The fact that they all smelt the same shows that they were all the same
> -
> the oil companies tend to sell each others fuel (with only minor
> adjustments
> as to their preferred additives) - otherwise the transportation costs
> would
> be large - we used to live near a large Mobil (now BP) refinery in
> Essex,
> and every brand of tanker went there.
Go figure how many, or more to the point how *few* companies in the UK
operate oil refineries and then ask yourself where the rest of 'em, all the
supermarkets and so on, get their fuel from!
BP, Total and Shell by and large
And the fuel for sale at a Shell services, for example, hasn't necessarily
come from a Shell refinery. Ditto for BP, Total etc. There's a very distinct
separation between the extraction/refinery/distribution chain and the
supply/retail end of things. The retail supply chain takes its basic fuel
supplies from where it's available at the best price.
This doesn't mean that the petrol or diesel on the supermarket forecourt is
the same stuff as at a BP or Shell service station - the difference is in
what additives are present. The additives are added to the fuel in the
retail supply chain before the fuel is delivered to the retail outlet.
When you get right down to it, you don't really know what the hell you're
pumping into your tank!!!
>From personal experience, I don't like using Morrisons diseasel in the
Renault - I seem to get less power, more engine noise and less fuel economy.
Tescos weasel compares well empirically with BP standard. I've never felt
motivated to spend the significant extra cost of Ultimate diesel to find out
whether it's better or not. On the odd occasion I've used Ultimate ('cos
we'd run out of the normal stuff thanks to the big boys sucking the tank dry
overnight) I can't say as I've noticed any difference but most of my
motoring is short hops.
Oh and that's another point - there ain't no difference between the diesel
on the car/van forecourt and the diesel at the HGV pumps on most sites.
Where I work, they're all fed from the same tank! There are HGV bunkering
sites where this isn't the case (and some service stations have a separate
bunker fuel tank) but that's a fish of a different kettle.
Bru
