Fuel...

[KiwiGF]

As an Caltex employee....Caltex (the petrol retailer) was jointly owned by Chevron and Texaco of the U.S. and was (and still is) in some countries a brand name (and little more).

Chevron and Texaco merged quite a few years ago but have generally kept marketing fuel using the various brand names they have between them.

I'm not one who believes there is much if any different between brands, well in NZ anyway, but the oil companies spend a lot of difference convincing us there is.....

I find 95 octane (of any brand) works fine in my A10 (flat top piston so not high comp) , but if I happen to pass a BP or Gull station with 98 octane I'll put that in, if provoked I can get it to pink on 91, so I avoid putting that in it.

[BSA_54A10]

All of the fuel refineries run at a loss in Australia as they all date from the times when machines were expensive and labour was cheap.
Too few vehicles and too far to truck the fuel to the servos. To make a modern refinery profitable comparred to the returns available in Asia.
Local crude is not suitable for economic production of fuel.
Aust oil is usually refined into lubricating oils and in particular extreme pressure oils and Jet A1.
So the high dollar was the final nail in the coffin for the older plants.
As we now have "free trade" with Singapore, Singapore fuel is cheaper to import than to do local processing.
All of the refineries are due to close by 2020. The remaining sites will simply become tank farms.
In NSW , Shell closed in 2014, Caltex closed in 2013, Boral closed down in 1992, and BP around the same time.
Because we have no petrochemicals industries and no manufacturing most of the byproducts that are profitable to sell overseas are toxic waste down here and the cost of transporting to places where they can be sold is greater than the selling price.

In order to be profitable an oil company would have to set up a fully intergrated refinery to not only produce fuel but process all of the remainder into saleable end products and the cost of setting up such a plant to run at Australian demand levels will not be sufficiently profitable to justify the expendature.
The last plant left standig will most likely get massive government subsidies to remain running

[Dean]

I have to admit that I play safe and add Castrol Octane booster with lead replacement additive. I was never confident who to believe in the debate over valve seat recession but decided that for less than £10 a year I might as well.

A technical expert in the BSA Front Wheel Drive Club decided to conduct test on his aircooled V Twin (cast iron head of course) and did measure significant exhaust seat recession. So I'm buying additive for the Trike and using it in the bikes helps use it up before it goes off