Thread: Dodgy fuel - busted

The local paper has for weeks, been replete with readers comment about never buying fuel again from the dodgy supplier -

Sadly, the distributor wont be overly damaged, (that family is very rich) but the outlets, mostly run by (non related) families (like franchises) who rent the sites and acquire the fuel from Ballina Petroleum are hurting badly...

The dodgy distributor announced it would make a donation of $200,000 to a group which is planning a 'youth driver education facility'. Meaning that all the customers they've ripped off are actually making a donation for the facility.

Helping kids not kill themselves is good, but I 'd like my Disco to work properly.

GQ

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Shell? They are supposed to use more volatiles in their fuel to boost octane.

Name names

I've said it before but I will say it again. There is no such thing as shell fuel in brisbane.

There are 2 refineries - BP and Caltex - they other "brands" (e.g. shell) have product sharing arrangements (e.g. bp supply shell with fuel in brisbane, and shell supply bp with fuel in melbourne).

Originally Posted by isuzurover

I've said it before but I will say it again. There is no such thing as shell fuel in brisbane.

There are 2 refineries - BP and Caltex - they other "brands" (e.g. shell) have product sharing arrangements (e.g. bp supply shell with fuel in brisbane, and shell supply bp with fuel in melbourne).

Sorry, I wasn't very clear with that. I know about that, but I was of the opinion that shell shipped their hi performance 98/100 fuel up to Brisbane, and that it consisted of more volatiles that the product produced by BP. At least that is what BP told us when we went to a fuels presentation they did for my lotus club at their Brisbane office Mind you it might have been all lies, or perhaps time has blurred my memory and the facts!

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Sorry, I wasn't very clear with that. I know about that, but I was of the opinion that shell shipped their hi performance 98/100 fuel up to Brisbane, and that it consisted of more volatiles that the product produced by BP. At least that is what BP told us when we went to a fuels presentation they did for my lotus club at their Brisbane office Mind you it might have been all lies, or perhaps time has blurred my memory and the facts!

That MAY be the case for high octane fuel, but I doubt it, as the extra shipping would kill most of the margin. It certainly wasn't the case when I was working at a refinery in Brisbane. It may have been that they were getting their low-octane fuel from BP and their high octane from caltex.

There are rules on the volatility of fuels in summer and winter, and blends are adjusted accordingly. The refineries are not usually the ones that break the rules, it is the smaller distribution companies.

Slightly off thread I know, but my father in law left our place one evening, and went to a nearby servo to top up before his 2 hour drive home. He'd put about 40 lites of unleaded into the tank of his diesel Triton before realising. A couple of phone calls later saw me en route with several drums I was able to scrounge. The next hour was spent rolling around on the concrete forecourt of the servo trying to empty the tank....I ended up with several 20 litre drums of "shandy"!