Don't Buy Gas From Shell or Texaco Right Now
 

Sulfur Shuts 500 Shell, Texaco Stations

NEW ORLEANS - Just before the heavy-driving Memorial Day weekend, more than 500 Shell and Texaco stations in the South have stopped selling gasoline because of high sulfur levels that can ruin vehicle fuel gauges and make an empty tank appear full.

The damage done by the bad gasoline could cause some drivers to run out of gas unexpectedly. Also, car owners may have to replace their fuel gauges ? a repair job that can easily cost $400 to $600.

The tainted gasoline originated at the Motiva Enterprises refinery in Norco, La., according to Shell Oil Co. Motiva is the refining arm of Shell in the East and South. Motiva supplied the gasoline to both Shell and Texaco.

The refinery said it is investigating how the high sulfur levels occurred. Sulfur is naturally present in crude oil; some of it is supposed to be removed during refining.

As of Friday, 119 Shell and Texaco stations were closed in the New Orleans area, and 400 were not selling fuel in Florida, said Shell spokeswoman Helen Bow.

The problem occurred at an especially bad time for gasoline stations, which had been expecting brisk sales, at high prices, ahead of the holiday weekend.

"The pumps have been off since Wednesday," said Sri Guntaka, a cashier at a Shell station in New Orleans. "We've lost a lot of customers, hundreds of them. It's very bad."

Gas tanks have a float ball that rises and falls with the fuel level. An electrical system reads the float ball's level and transmits the information to the dashboard fuel gauge. The system uses silver electrical contacts, which can be quickly corroded by sulfur.

The problem came to light this week after drivers began complaining about inaccurate fuel gauge readings.

Besides the New Orleans area, problem fuel turned up in shipments to Miami, Tampa, Sarasota and Fort Lauderdale, Shell said.

Shell is replacing the gasoline at its stations. But Bow did not have an estimate of when all the stations would be pumping again.

Shell said it had received 1,800 queries and 825 claims from people who said their fuel gauges had been affected.

I would have expected Allah to hit us harder than this.

Fuck..... think how much that is costing them

Millions an hour........

they should PAY ALL damages related and incured to vehicle owners



:2 cents:

sucks to be them...

Holy shit, that's awful!

we'll pay for it at some point.

i'd love it if my empty tank appeared full...

Shell has one of the best gasoline here in Canada next to Chevron.I work in the petroleum industry and have done work in their bulk plants.They go through very strigent testing process to ensure superior fuel.American gas has differant laws regarding additives allowed...in fact American gas would not be allowed here due to the inferior quality.We have almost as strict or if not more than California law.

It's only from the one refinery, and from what I understand, refineries only ship to local regions. It's not that huge a scare, really.

Well, fucking fabulous. :1orglaugh

I live in the area they're talking about and I *just* stopped about 30 mins ago on my way home and filled up at the Shell Station near my house. I usually never go below 1/4 tank, but I was dead empty and my light was on, so I guess I'm full to the brim with this shit.

Hopefully they honor the claims from people who suffered damage as a result of their screw up

OWNED! :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

so true. the consumer usually always does somewhere down the line.

Mohawk gas all the way :thumbsup

lol

"Let this be the hour when we draw swords together. Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath! Now for ruin! And a red dawn!"

:glugglug

I smell a class action lawsuit :winkwink:

I knew I could count on you guys.

good thing I only use mobil :thumbsup

texaco stopped selling those around me, they now have some shit called " V-Power"

ya i just saw it on the news too

good thing I use chevron (with techron ;)) :glugglug

Okay, update. I called my father, grandfather, and the Shell Station. I have no idea why, since they were all pretty much equal with their "wtf are you talking about Holly" attitudes. :1orglaugh

My dad was asleep in front of the TV, informed me that someone was probably pulling a joke on me or I had read some sort of spam and misunderstood it, and told me he'd have to think about it and he'd call me back tomorrow. :thumbsup

My granddad doesn't really understand the internet that much, so after a 10 minute discussion about the definition of a "bulletin board" (he thought I saw the bad gas info hanging on a bulletin board outside the Shell Station ;-), he finally declared that he felt everything would be fine and he'd listen to my car the next time he saw it. :thumbsup

By this time my dad had come out of his sleep fog and he called me back and asked if I had called the Shell Station. Of course I hadn't, so I decided to do that.

Called the Shell, got an old lady on the phone, and she acted like I'd just told her aliens had landed in the parking lot. She could not have been anymore confused. After about 5 minutes of explanations she finally tells me that she's "sure I'm making sense, but she just can't understand me." :1orglaugh

So, she puts some dude on the phone who I can immediately tell also has absolutely no fucking clue what I'm talking about and has never heard any of this. BUT --- being a "guy" and all, he wasn't prepared to admit this, so he tried to bullshit along with me and act as if he was completely in charge and in control of the situation ;-} I almost started making shit up, since I know he would have agreed with anything I said at that point. I finally just told him that if he received any notice that the gas is bad, to please let me know, and I hung up. It didn't occur to me until after, that I didn't even leave my name or number. :1orglaugh

So, who knows? My car may or may not blow up. Even if the shit is bad, I don't know what I could do now, anyway. What do you do to get gas out of a car??? I'm definitely not sucking on any hosepipes.

simple, america doesnt believe in god any more.

you want to scare them? bring up gas prices, bring up the call of oil, bring up the cost of the life they make us choose,... man i could be the Council to Terror.

:glugglug

That is outragous!!