spice's Blog

From a guy who works with a petroleum company

Tips on pumping gas.

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline....
but here in California we are also paying higher, up
to $4.23 per gallon. But my line of work is in
petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some
tricks to get more of your money's worth for every
gallon..

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San
Jose,CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a
24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel
the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and
premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a
total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early
morning when the ground temperature is still cold.
Remember that all service stations have their storage
tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the
more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline
expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the
evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the
petroleum business, the specific gravity and the
temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel,
ethanol and other petroleum products plays an
important role.

A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this
business. But the service stations do not have
temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of
the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see
that the trigger has three (3)stages:low, middle, and
high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed,
thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while
yo u are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor
return. If you are pumping on the fast rate,! some
other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor.
Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the
underground storage tank so you're getting less worth
for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your
gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for
this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less
air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates
faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks
have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as
zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so
it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations,
here where I work, every truck that we load is
temperature compensated so that every gallon is
actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping
into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DONOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred
up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick
up some of the dirt that normally settles on the
bottom. Hope this will help you get the most value
for your money.

DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS!

WHERE TO BUY USA GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW.
READ ON

Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we
grumbled about it. It might even be good for us! The
Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should
return the favor.

An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS.

Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting
more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia . Just
buy from gas companies that don't import their oil
from the Saudis.

Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that
every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money
to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my
friends.

I thought it might be interesting for you to know
which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and
which major companies import Middle Eastern oil.

These companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell.........................205,7 42,000 barrels

Chevron/Texaco............ 144,332,000 barrels

Exxon/Mobil...... ......... 130,082,000 barrels

Marathon/Speedway....... 117,740,000 barrels

Amoco...................... 62,231,000 barrels

Citgo gas is from South America , from a Dictator who
hates Americans. If you do the math at $30/barrel,
these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (oil is now
$90 - $100 a barrel

Here are so me large companies that do not import
Middle Eastern oil:

Sunoco..................0 barrels

Conoco..................0 barrels

Sinclair................0 barrels

BP/Phillips.............0 barrels

Hess...................0 barrels

ARC0..................0 barrels

All of this information is available from the
Department of Energy and each is required to state
where t hey get their oil and how much they are
importing.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally
millions of gas buyers. It's really simple to do.

Now, don't wimp out at this point.. .. keep reading
and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of
people!!

I'm sending this note to about thirty people. If each
of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10
=300)...and those 300 send it to at least ten more
(300 x 10 = 3,000) .. and so on, by the time the
message reaches the sixth generation of people, we
will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers !!!!!!!
If those three million get excited and pass this on
to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have
been contacted!

If it goes one level further, you guessed it .....
THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people.
How long would all that take?