Fuel - What do you use?

[240MPS]

Hmmm...I use vortex because thats through my lease...

Theres a thread on the darkside that states it dosent matter which brand you use ie.bp, caltex because it will all come from the closest refinery to the petrol station ....

Anyone think thats true?

At the end of the day we do not know what petrol stations do, a mate of my owned a BP station at rothwell near Redcliffe and up at Caloundra and some of the stories he used to tell me where some stations mixed std unleaded with 98 fuel. If you haven't used BP Ultimate try it once and see if you get extra miles out of it.

[shakespeare]

BP for me, and Caltex only if I'm not near a BP. We don't get Shell V-Power in WA!

Read somewhere that the BP fuels are probably the best grade in Australia as they are predominantly from local supplies, others like Shell use more imported fuels in their mix and apparently not as good

[Jmac]

Hmmm...I use vortex because thats through my lease...

Theres a thread on the darkside that states it dosent matter which brand you use ie.bp, caltex because it will all come from the closest refinery to the petrol station ....

Anyone think thats true?

to a degree, i know for a fact in Sydney that BP fuel is shell base with BP additives.

[Team Green]

I have two fuel cards on my lease the primary card is Caltex with the secondary BP..

I use to alternate between the two but since I have a BP98 around the corner and BP corporate colour is green and I live in Greenfield Park and the is green I use BP98...

since I have been using BP the 2 has been returning better fuel economy....

[TD]

In Qld the BP Ultimate is Caltex Lytton (Port of Brisbane) refined 98 with extra BP bits added later, the Shell V-Power is Indian or Singapore refined and shipped over.

The catalytic cracker that did make V-Power for Shell in Australia is broken (Geelong refinery) and has been out of commission for a while...unsure if Kurnell (Sydney) now has a 98 octane catalytic cracker online to replace this.

No idea on west coast, would make economic sense for most of your fuel to come from Singapore.

I'll find out more detail today and post back later if anyone is interested exactly where their fuel comes from for different markets

---------- Post added at 08:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:24 AM ----------

Never mind, this says it better than I can. From Feb 09. Will update tonight with new details.

Currently, there will be a noticeable difference between vendors depending on supply points.

Caltex + BP Refineries together provide over 90% of 98, 95 + 91 RON fuels to Australians, with Shell about 7%, Mobil about 3%. Caltex & BP have exclusive fuel sharing agreements, as does Shell and Mobil. Caltex & BP do not supply Shell, but BP supplies 98 RON (Mobil 6000) to Mobil from time to time when Shell cannot. Mobil only produces 91 + Diesel.

Currently Caltex, BP and Mobil are the only companies in Australia with active Fuel Refineries. Shell's Refinery has been shut down since October last year with Cracker issues (the heart of the refinery), and therefore imports spec fuel from Singapore/India/Asia. Shell has not ordered any Crude (for March + April 09), so we suspect it wont be operational for another 3-4 months.

So, basically to answer your question, Shell fuels are currently imported, and generally lesser quality (even though they have to be Knock tested to Aussie spec before releasing to servos).

So, while Shell is 98 RON rated overseas supplied, BP + Caltex fuels are produced locally and we know where the crude comes from. The Crude most likely used to produce Shell's fuel is most likely dirty crude, and Shell will be blending sources from Singapore, India, and other supplies. Keep in mind that the RON rating is the main spec by which differentiates fuel. This is based on a certain Octane rating.

Therefore, if the fuel is poor quality, Shell may just add Octane to meet spec, but the fuel may still be less efficient, compared to the nice clean locally made non-blended, Aussie made BP + Caltex 98 RON spec fuels.

[nissanman]

Im much rather BP ultimate. But i dont treat my car badly or thrash it so Vpower will do.

The actaul only reason i use Vpower is because of my FLYBUYS card.

[MISSMPS]

BP

[Taz]

Use to have VPower for the car all the time for about a year, but changed preference recently to BP Ultimate as it gives slightly better fuel economy....

[A Pirate]

my car has always from new been run on Vortex98 except for 4 tanks -1X BP needed fuel there and then , 1x shell V power (poor fuel economy), 1x caltex 95 (very 1st tank) and 1x normal ulp (penny pinching dad filled it up and car ran like crap).

I get up to 750km hwy driving and 620 city driving so im pretty happy add this to a caltex fuel card and im happy to keep buying caltex.

[whiteminx]

even though i havent gone my mps yet, apparently i'm only allowed bp ulitmate lol