Costco get their gas from and who does Smiths Food and Drug get their gas from?

Obviously they dont have their own refineries or anything, so who do they "outsource" their gas from?

 

Usually everyone (shell, texaco, mobil, arco, etc) get's there gas from the same distribution center. Each one just adds there own additives to make it 'Brand X' gas. The fuel itself is the same, it's the additives that make it different.

 

alot of times those discount gas places buy what ever is left on a truck that is delievering gas for another place. so say shell just got delivered a truck with 1000 gallons on it but thier tanks could olny take 700 gallons a discount gas place would buy the remaining 300 gallons for a cheaper price

 

That's why I only buy top tier gas. Regardless or price

 

totally agree with you

 

with those discount gas places who knows what they are mixing together and how bad that could be for your car. best bet is just spent the extra couple of cents and get a good name brand gas. its just like buy off brand parts from ebay. the prices are good but in the back of your head you just know somethiing isn't going to be right

 

I don't know if its true, but last time I was at costco the attendant told me they get their gas from Exxon...and because they sell so much, the company is able to negotiate lower prices with suppliers.

In all honesty, I've been using Costco gas in my car for the past year with absolutely no problems...fuel economy is as good as it is with Shell or Exxon and I have absolutely no knock or pinging. I have not had good luck with Chevron at all...fuel economy drops close to 4 mpg every time I use it.

 

IMO, Costco gas is a resonably decent gas. It will be nice to know for sure the gas is sourced from Exxon. Regardless, filling up tank early in the morning and keeping tire pressure right will increase MPG.

Personally I only put Chevron/Shell in my vehicles.

 

Ha! Another Pleasanton resident! No wonder you put Shell and Chevron, they are dirt cheap compared to the rest of the Bay Area!

 

The title of this thread did not turn me on to the topic, or I would have posted here before this. Needs a better title.

The post above is essentially correct for most (but not all) markets -- provided the market is drawn correctly. In the generally competetive market for gasoline today, most gasoline comes from one (or two) terminals that are supplied by pipeline, tanker or barge -- depending on the location. (The markets close to refineries are supplied directly from that refinery -- by truck.) The gasoline in those tanks meets certain minimum specs for different traits -- including octane. For pipeline terminals, these specs are set by the pipeline company in consultation with all of their regular oil company shippers. When this "comingled" gasoline from a number of refineries is loaded into a truck for the trip to a gas station, it has the proper additive package for the oil company that "supplies" that station. So this package is essentially the only difference between the gas from different oil companies.

Just because Exxon supplies a Costco station in California (or Texas where talkinghorse lives) does not mean that Exxon supplies all Costco stores across the country. And most likely, the "Exxon product" that is shipped to Costco has a different (and cheaper) additive package than the one Exxon uses for its branded stations. There is a Federal minimum spec for certain gasoline additives, and most likely the Costco product gets this minimum spec additive and the Exxon stations get the Exxon premium package.

I can't say difinitively that these "off brand" sations (like Costco and other grocery chain stations) do not get "what is left in the truck" after a delivery to another branded station -- but I really doubt that this is the case in any market.

Hope this helps.

 

The Sams club by me doesnt have any ethanol in it supposedly and I get better gas mioleage.

 

Like it was said. All gas is the same only the additives are different. A good bottle of fuel injection cleaner is all you need every couple miles. i don't feel any difference when I fill up with Mobil or if I fill up with a no name brand. It's all marketing hype anyway........