premium shortage?!

[vinderliker]

Here in Canberra, both Shell and BP had no premium.

[Rednut]

im gonna do a newcastle run to track down something better than 95. (hahaha they just did a story on the news about the prices while ive been typing)
its come at a great time(thursday+easter weekend) but being away from the tolly for the past 2 weeks, i think it deserves a good feed!

"hey mollins, is there anywhere out your way that still has the goods? perhaps that mobil on the top of croudace st?"

[Bubu]

I just posted about this in 'General Chat'.

I have been looking for 98 octane for the past 3 days and managed to find some at a Caltex not too far from me. As for 95 fuel, I can recall reading somewhere (I think it was Open Road (NRMA magazine)) that 95 will be phased out by government. One of my friends also mentioned that the BP he fills up at has removed 95 octane. I personally havent noticed because I never use 95.

This shortage is getting very bad until a couple of hours ago when I found the Caltex with 98 octane, I was on the verge of parking my car at home and calling in sick to work. The only other way I was gonna get to work is a (expensive) taxi ride. No public transport is available where I work. Not even a bus comes through there.

[blutopless2]

that sucks... nothing worse than not being able to get the fuel you need.
funny there is no shortage in melbourne tho. if it was truly a refinery problem then you would expect the whole country to feel it as stocks dry up.
but more likely another excuse to put it up even higher than the 10c/L over 92 octane.

[The_Hawk]

From what I have been told by a servo operator, they don't make as much money on Premium so would rather sell you the Regular unleaded. So why would they be in a rush to fix the problem??

As for difference in fuel, while I will agree there is a difference in 98 and regular, the VR6 will run just as happily on 91, economy wont be as good, but then I don't pay as much. Having said that I only run 98 in her anyway.

All of the tests I did with other cars I have had show that with MY driving style and patterns, 98 would give better economy but would cost more. When calculated out, the 98 and 91 worked out about the same price per 100km with the old difference being that I had to fill up more often with 91 and with 98 I was running a better fuel so the car was better off. On a long trip there is no doubt that 98 is by far the better fuel since you can extract the most value from it.

So long story short, unless your car is designed for premium only, it should be fine on 91, if your really worried, pick up some of those octane boosters/injector cleaner jobbies and keep them in the boot. Throw that in when you need a few extra octane points.

[Pullstarter]

There was a half page apology from Shell in the national newspapers yesterday, as someone else said prior they are having some kind of technical issues at the refinery and can't put a date on when it will again be available. We haven't had V Power down here since January and now the BPs are starting to run out of Ultimate too. Mobil still has Synergy 98 but who knows how long that will last?

[VW Convert]

From what I have been told by a servo operator, they don't make as much money on Premium so would rather sell you the Regular unleaded. So why would they be in a rush to fix the problem??

There is no conspiracy here, they had a major problem with one of the catalytic crackers at Shell refinery at Rosehill. Repairs have been going on many many weeks as can be evidenced by the huge cranes that are working on the site and the numerous large components that have been delivered by barge over the last few weeks.

Because there are only two refineries in Sydney (Caltex Kurnell and Shell Rosehill) supplying all the major brands of fuel, it follows that supply is running at about 50%. All companies that source from Shell are importing petrol from Singapore but there are limitations on port facilities that impact on their ability to bring in sufficient fuel.

BP say they expect things to return to normal by end of March on their website.


Cheers

George

[gareth_oau]

why dont you guys just pop over and fill up here in Perth, theres plenty of 98 around