I'm lucky enough to live near a shell and a citgo. We have no BPs, but I look for them when I travel and I'll look for sunoco's now too. I have managed to avoid buying anything at an Exxon/Mobile for about three years now except for one emergency quarter tank of gas.

How is BP at the top of the barrel? While they are pushing for solar power, they are also dumping crap into lake michigan (water that I DRINK!!)
http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/491478,CST-EDT-guest01.article

I'm still not buying from BP. Not a gallon of gas, not a pack of gum, nothing.

There are other things to consider beside environmental bona fides. What's the company's track record in obstructing a sane US energy policy? How much has the company contributed to the Republican party? I personally like the notion that at least some of my gas money goes to redistrubution of wealth in Venezuela when I buy Citgo, so I make it a point to seek it out. The fact that Chavez, for all his well-documented faults, called George Bush a devil is just a bonus.

What about fuel quality?

(partly to answer my own question) My MINI dealership recommends only Shell or Chevron for my '04 MINI Coooper S. This presumeably is because of the quantity/quality of the detergents in the fuel which distinguishes them from other companies. These additives and appropriate octane level are mixed into the fuel for our cars at the pump.

In most cases the detergent/additive (not including octane) can be resolved by getting engine oil (eg Chevron's Techroline brand) which includes the same thing.

In my case, the Cooper S requires MINI's own brand of engine oil (a hard to find non-MINI version is usable in emergencies) which doesn't necessarily have the needed detergents. Truth be told, I have never needed to add engine oil to the Cooper S.

Now among MINI owners there is some respect for Sunaco, but that does have some concerns about it's ethanol blend causing some stuttering, though this may vary from state to state. I don't know of any Sunaco branches in my area...a Chevron is almost next door, so I don't expect to change my fueling paterns soon.

I also saw the article about BP dumping Mercury into Lake Michigan... no more BP for me! gas is gas - never have had an issue with it regardless of where it came from.

"What about fuel quality?"

Since the Sierra Club does not want us driving, I don't think they care about that. It's all tiny compared with how evil the people you give $3 a gallon to are.

The best fuel quality is that left in the damned earth, rather than burning under our fat asses. :^)

Does anyone here know who owns quicktrip? It's been bugging me for months.

Unfortunately, BP has the lowest quality of fuel and is more apt to do bad things to your car than any of the other brands listed. Many dealers in the Midwest actively discourage their customers from using BP fuel.

Good to know. I wonder what the criteria was.

One Man. One Year. $100,000 online. How's he doing it?
http://www.oneyeargoal.com

Mark Barnette is a moron, if hugo chavez had bushes power you'd see a real police state

QuikTrip was co-founded in 1958 by Chairman Chester Cadieux and partners. His son Chet runs the company.

Question:
Where does QuikTrip get its gasoline?

Answer:
QuikTrip is an American-owned, privately held company with a 49-year history in the convenience store/gasoline retail industry. The gasoline and diesel fuel we offer to our customers is purchased from various refineries all located in the U.S.

There have recently been a number of questions raised about whether QuikTrip buys gasoline from Middle Eastern or South American countries. We do not purchase any crude oil or have any influence on the purchasing decisions made by the companies who own the refineries.

As an independent marketer, we do not operate any pipelines or terminals; we are strictly a retailer of quality motor fuels and convenience items to consumers in our markets.

All gasoline marketers in the United States get their gasoline from various terminals in their cities. This gasoline has been mixed in pipelines with gasoline from a number of refineries. Although we may purchase our gasoline from a specific refiner, the gasoline we actually pull out of the pipeline is really generic. Even retail outlets of major oil companies end up drawing their gasoline out of the same pipeline as everyone else.

You really don't know where your gas comes from:

1) Many gas stations take deliveries from different suppliers - i.e., an Arco station may take a delivery from a Chevron supplier.

2) Many of the trucks fill up at the same distributor or distillation plant. The mix might be a bit different (similar additives though), but the source is often the same and can vary from day to day.

Saying you are having any kind of impact on the environment or the balance sheet of any given oil company by buying at a given station for a given brand is naive.

I have always bought BP since reading something similar a few years back. Most of their stations in the US are very modern now also.

@Mark Barnette

I live in West Des Moines, Iowa. There are lots of mini coopers in my city. My friend owns one.

There is not, however, a single Shell or Chevron station.

That aside though, let me correct your disinformation:

The cooper uses a high compression engine, so you're best off with a 91 octane mix. aka Premium gas.

You may have problems with the newer 94 octane gas and any ethanol blend.

Brand is essentially irrelevant.

Civilization must have sink to a new low when BP comes at the top of a "responsible corporations" list.

In BC Canada I usually stick to Husky stations, Co-op, Petrocanada and the one with the First-Nations logo, I guess just because they're not Chevron or Exxon.
Does anybody know if this canadian companies actually have a goo- ahem - a not-so-bad corporate record?

Poor Mark Bernette: he actually thinks that money is getting to poor Venezuelans. Chavez is running his country into the ground even more than Bush is.

Chester Cadieux is the CEO of QuikTrip and owns most of the stock. The employees of the company via stock purchase and profit sharing plan own almost 50% of the stock.

The company is owned privately.

Quiktrip ships/sells a little of Shell and a little of ConocoPhillips.
http://www.colpipe.com/ab_oc.asp

I always fill up my Hummer and Escalade at BP. Their fuel is superior and has helped me go from 12 mpg to 14 mpg! Thanks BP!

It doesn't actually make any difference which one you buy. Gasoline is a fungible commodity. Buying from one brand because they have a better track record will simply cause them to run out of the commodity sooner and obtain it from other sources for resale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungibility

If you want to help the environment, buying your gas from different people ain't going to help in the slightest.

Hey,
Yes BP may be at the top of the barrel or what not...but their gass is poor in quality. If I shop at exon or shell my gass lasts a lot longer. (Usually a week) If I fill up with BP I have to fill my tank up two days sooner. Which kind of blows. So they may be cheaper...but their gass is cheaper also.

I like this take on it - Mike lists them in terms of 8 layers of hell - http://www.endoil.org/node/313.

Lucas Kane and El MAuro have obviously bought into the Bush propaganda machine, or maybe they are simply anti-socialism. Neither of these factors gives them license to call Mark Barnett a moron or naieve. How about facts instead of ad hominems.
By the way, BP will be incresing their dumping of ammonia and toxic sludge into Lake Michigan(EVERYBODY'S lake) by 50%

I was watching the "Bowl" games over the holidays in south Florida. They kept advertising Valero Gasoline. Since no one knew who the heck they were, I Googled them and found on one page that Valero was a George W. Bush Holding Company. Does anyone have more information on this?

I came across this post via digg and I must say this study was one of the best studies that I have found related to gas stations in a long time, awesome work!!

These companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell........................... 205,742,000 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 some 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

These companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell........................... 205,742,000 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 some 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

Knowing where the oil is coming from is well and good. But I do not buy oil, I buy gasoline. No one can say for certain where the gasoline at any station originates. I use to live near a refinery in California. Deliver trucks from every known gas station were getting their gas fom the same place. This changes on a daily basis depending on price and availability. Remember there are a lot of gasoline outlets but only a few refineries. So I just buy the lowest gas around and sleep soundly at night.