1.6 FSI - What’s this pipe? Petrol smell

[Proghound]

There are six major and one minor refineries in the UK; of these only one is owned by a known brand - ExxonMobil at Fawley. But do you imagine that an Exxon petrol station in Scotland is supplied by Fawley? No, any petrol station will be be most likely supplied by the nearest refinery. Any special additive would have to be added at the refinery but that would mean that every customer of the refinery with a special blend would have to have their own storage tanks. How likely is that? For "wizzy additives" read "marketing" I suspect!

RAB

As far as I know the additives for the brand are added neat to each tanker, in the correct quantities for its laden volume. Not sure at exactly which point this happens, but it would make sense if it was at the tanker depot when they are empty, before filling up with base fuel stock at the refinery. Not least because they would then definitely be mixed in properly before delivery to the brand's fuel stations.

There have been incidents of the incorrect additives being added for the fuel in the tanker (or possibly vice versa). A few years back there was a cluster of deliveries of petrol containing diesel additives, which caused a lot of lambda sensors to be eaten away in the areas local to those fuel stations, as well as a few further afield. That was Asda & Morrisons' fuel if I remember correctly: even the supermarkets (or at least the oil companies with the supermarket supply contracts) are putting some level of additives in their fuel. I suspect these are just the bare minimum required level of detergents to keep fuel systems from harmful levels of clogging up, whereas the brands are using greater quantities/more effective cleaners, plus anything else they throw in for burn optimization and component longevity. The latter two of these qualities still have plenty of scope to be marketing hype though, due to the difficulty for individual customers in observing their effects.

 

[Guest 4123]

As far as I know the additives for the brand are added neat to each tanker, in the correct quantities for its laden volume.

Very, very unlikely as it would be too hazardous and too haphazard. It would have to be added at the bulk level, either at the refinery or the road tanker depot. If the latter has no storage tanks, it would have to be at the refinery. Your Asda/Morrisons example suggests that this the case. There is a UK oil pipeline network:

UK oil pipeline network - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

so a depot without tanks is feasible. The inter-connectivity suggests that refineries produce common products.

Since some of these additives are supposedly secret, they would have to be added at the companies own premises, otherwise they wouldn't be secret for long! Shell, for instance, doesn't own a single refinery in the UK!

RAB

 

[Guest 4123]

This is a Google Earth view of the BP Waterside Road road tanker depot in Walton-on-Thames. Not a storage tank in sight.



RAB

 

[PlasticMac]

The additives are injected at the (local) distribution terminal, where the road rankers are loaded. An underground networks of pipe lines transport the raw fuel (ie vanilla 95, 98 or diesel) from the refinery to the terminal. These terminals have limited storage, enough to cope with the day to day tanker demand. The additives are in concentrate form, and the fuel only becomes truly "branded" once they are added. The cost (to Shell for example) of development and production of the additives is high, so, for sure Shell additives don't go into any fuel, other than Shell. I don't doubt marketing is involved too, but don't try to convince yourself that fuel from your local supermarket is the same as from your local Shell, BP, Esso station, it's not. They all conform to the appropriate BS, and are all top quality stuff, but those (mainly detergent) additives, that are only in "branded" versions do help to keep the engine clean.
(Just like the Wynns, Wurth etc additives, you can add direct to the tank).
It's a personal choice whether or not you pay the extra cost, but it's not all flim flam. There is a real difference.
Mac.

 

[PlasticMac]

Terminals with storage are termed "wet" terminals, those with no storage are "dry" terminals. Dry terminals are, generally, dedicated to one oil Co, as the BP example at Walton on Thames, and only supply tankers for that one oil co. Wet terminals often supply several oil cos, and supermarkets.
Mac.