180Marty wrote:>...I was quizzing him about different things and he said that what gets pumped up to Sioux City that is sold as 87 and 91 octane straight unleaded is the same except different additives to make 91. Not sure if he's right but that's what he said.
He is not right according to my source at the Portland terminal which is at the end of the Olympic pipeline to 5 refineries in the Seattle area. They receive 84 AKI CBOB for making 87 AKI regular E10 gasoline and 88 AKI CBOB for making 91 AKI premium E10 gasoline. They have always received two products, one for regular, one for premium. If a gas station does not have a blender pump for 89 AKI mid-grade, the terminal will blend regular and premium to create mid-grade and ship it to them for their third tank, but less than 10% of the gas stations in Oregon have three tanks anymore and old dispensers that can't blend mid-grade.
You guys out west that don't want to run ethanol should get a rail car loaded with straight 87 unleaded. ...
You have completely missed my point. As all of the gasoline is taken E10, in the case of Oregon by our mandatory E10 law, or in the rest of the country by the unintended consequences of EISA 2007, the refineries stop making finished ethanol free regular and premium gasoline. All they are making in Seattle is sub-octane CBOB for ethanol blending. The only finished ethanol free unleaded gasoline comes in by sea to the Portland terminal, from either California or Asia is my guess. Once California goes all E10 as it is poised to do, it is going to become extremely difficult to get any ethanol free finished gasoline from anywhere in the Northwest because every refinery, foreign or domestic, is going to ship CBOB here. There are no laws, state or federal that require the availability of ethanol free gasoline, even for constituencies that have exemptions in states with mandatory E10 laws, such as marine and aviation users here in Oregon. There are only laws that require ethanol blended gasoline, and that is what the refineries are reacting to by switching over to making just CBOB. There is no legal requirement anymore to make ethanol free gasoline, except in Hawaii, where premium unleaded must be ethanol free to protect their marine industry and public safety uses.
