as in, can you end up with "no name" or "off brand" gas from a mom&pop gas station that might be ...I don't know..."seconds" in the gas world?  or is it all about the same?

Often it ALL comes from the same place and the additives that make it special are added for each delivery.

I don't know, but when I buy gas from Casey's, I loose about 3 mpg and water POURS out the tail pipe.

 






 

It's all the same shit sent through the same pipeline.

The only difference is the additive packages put in at the truck loading station.

Also ethanol is added at the same time and they use the splash method. So it's not exact how much corn you get in each gallon

Taco Bell used to be, but not anymore...

^^^this^^^
Also as already posted if a major vendor orders lets say high test gas and it does not meet that vendors specs it will be sold off to another company that does not require as strict of specs.
When gas or diesel or kerosene is shipped down the pipeline all that separates them is a rubber looking seal called a pig. It looks like a 5 gallon bucket lid but larger and made out of some sort of rubber material.

Price-fixing does not allow for 'cheap' gas.

Not all is blended by splash method... a lot of tank farms have the capability to blend right at the fuel rack with true blending methods.


I just took a refinery tour last week... one of the last refineries in the US still giving tours due to DHS regs. The reason they still give tours is because they are a member owned cooperative and therefore they can give tours to members.

It's Country-Mark (formerly IN Farm Bureau Co-Op). The refinery is in Mt Vernon, IN. I learned a LOT about how fuel is handled that day. This is not meant to be a be-all, end-all, but I will tell you what I learned. Most of this is specific to that refinery but most likely a lot of it is similar to how most other refineries operate.

As for gasoline, they produce 2 different products. They produce a 91 octane and a 84 octane. The 2 are blended with ethanol, additives etc to get the 87, 89, 90, 91, 93 octanes they sell. The blending happens at the tank farms, of which they have 3 in Indiana (4 if you count the tanks at the refinery). ALL blending is done at the rack as the fuel goes in the truck and it is NOT splash blended. Local Shell, Huck's, Casey's etc all buy gas from CountrMark. But they don't do so exclusively, they may also bring gas from elsewhere. The difference between the Shell, Casey's, Huck's etc is the additive package. The 87 octane, before additives is the exact same product. But the CountryMark fuels get their extended additive package, the others don't. Do the additives really make a difference? I can't say for sure, certainly CM is biased in believe their package is best. It may be. I do know that their prices are competitive with everybody else.

Random fact for people that live in the area of service for Country Mark(Indiana, SE IL, and West-central OH)
Country Mark fuels are 100% refined in IN from 100% Illinois basin light, sweet crude. IL basin crude is pumped from SE IL, SW IN, and a few wells in NC KY. So if you like to support US companies paying locals workers, and local well-owners look no further than Country Mark.
The difference between running a refinery like this and others is that most others are looking at the bottom line and are often buying crude on the open market. They may get crude from this region this week and another region the next. This makes it challenging to keep your refining process in very close check. The process may still be "in-spec" but that doesn't mean it's as good as it could be. By running the exact same crude year-round for many years they have the process down. That ideally yields a bit better product. Will you notice? Probably not. But it could be a benefit. Also, they do not sell jet-fuel and kerosene, which are both a step above diesel. Most refineries sell those products. As they are refined off, they get blended back into the diesel fuel. That does, in fact, yield a noticable quality difference in their diesel fuel.

If you want ethanol free gas, look for the 91+ gasoline product at you local Country Mark fueling station. The 91+ product is 100% gasoline with no ethanol. This info is straight from the lab at the refinery and confirmed by the State/District representatives that took us on the tour.

Ultimately, I do believe there are some out there that are yielding better fuel products than the big-names, but as far as "cheap gas", it's mostly all the same. It may be contaminated with something making it "cheap" but if they are selling that there is a chance they are breaking the law...

Locally some independent stations buy the "leavings" or "tanker residue" to sell gas cheaper. As I understand it when a tank truck finishes dumping at "BIG OIL" stations there's often fuel left in the tanker. This truck may deliver more loads to a different "BIG OIL" later, however, they have to dump the tanker at the tank farm because they can't mix fuels for different vendors. When the "left-overs tank" gets enough fuel, the tank farm sells it to independents. Locally one station is infamous for its low prices and very questionable gas quality. I've seen cars stalled a block or two away after filling up there.

I'd honestly stay away from "cheap gas" if you ever even find it.

The money you save in gas will quickly be thrown out the window on repairs to whatever you're putting the gas in.

Think of it like putting that Ethanol gas in weed eaters.

It's GOING to mess it up.

Wood gas.

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One thing that the addition of ethanol has done has been to pull crud and water out of those tanks and run it into the pump filters and/or your own filters and engine, so a lot of tanks, even in older facilities, are actually pretty clean now.  If you are in an area that mandates ethanol and you get a bad tank of gas, there is probably something very wrong, like a tanker load of diesel in the wrong tank.