ACE alerts consumers to lower quality petrol via Big Oil

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) has warned US consumers that it is recent changes in fuel supplied by oil companies to the Midwest which will reduce the quality of petrol available in many states.

ACE senior VP Ron Lamberty says if the public starts to notice that their petrol doesn’t seem as good as it used to be, it’s due to the petrol quality declining and nothing to do with ethanol: ‘The ethanol is exactly the same as it was last week, last month or last year but on 16 September the octane of petrol just got much lower. Consumers will pay the same as before however.’

Most of the Midwest is served by the Magellan pipeline system and oil companies using that system recently decided to supply 84-octane gas as their “base” petrol instead of the 87-octane, which has long been the standard.

‘The lower 84-octane gas cannot even be used in vehicles without adding high-octane ethanol or some expensive premium petrol to the low-octane fuel,’ continues Lamberty. “The oil industry is claiming these changes were necessary because of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), but there is absolutely nothing in the RFS that compels them to reduce the quality of the fuel by lowering the octane.’

ACE believes the switch has been made because it increases oil companies’ profits and allows them complete control of ethanol and RINs.

‘Oil refineries save a lot of money and get more gallons of 84-octane from a barrel than they get making 87-octane, and yet prices have not dropped in other US markets where the change has already been made,’ adds Lamberty. ‘Consumers won’t pay lower prices for these lower-octane fuels, the oil companies will just make more money.’