[sanjeevs]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

I have it on record from a senior contact at IOCL that they were supplying Shell. Fact is that retailers buy from different refiners, wherever it is cheaper. The fuel at an IOCL pump doesn’t necessarily originate at an IOCL owned refinery. Similarly, it’s the same way for refiners, especially the private ones. Quotas aside, sales always get diverted to wherever margins are higher, which is often export.

Yes. IOCL along with RIL supply the fuel stocks to Shell outlets. But why the fuel prices are exorbitantly high at shell outlets ? Perhaps the additives added to the fuel could be the reason IMHO.
Amongst the local players, only RIL exports the refined stocks to cater to the overseas demand, but I am not sure about the local players like IOCL, BPCL etc.

[mail2vm]

I believe the quality of shell fuel is different when compared to the Indian players. If they are buying it locally, I wonder how the quality of Shell fuel is better. I personally feel that there is a huge difference in engine response and smoothness with shell fuel, though they come with a cost.

[UNSC117]

Originally Posted by Prash1407

IMHO, Reliance refinery supplies Oil to BPCL and Shell. Nayara supplies to HP and IOCL.

In your opinion? How can a statement like that be an opinion? It's either fact, or lie. Do these companies publish where they get oil from publicly?

[GreenerPlanet]

Could this variation be because some outlets are selling blended diesels (ethanol) which is cheaper? may be because of market factors in price sensitive areas?

I have seen blended fuel outlets having only a very small sticker showing the ratio of blending and its not very visible.

[adi.mariner]

Shell has become the Ola/Uber of the Fuel business by charging a surge price for some places and not for the others. This makes ignoring Shell pumps easier and going for public OMCs whose rates are atleast uniform.

[Prash1407]

Originally Posted by UNSC117

In your opinion? How can a statement like that be an opinion? It's either fact, or lie. Do these companies publish where they get oil from publicly?

I got this information from a petrol bunk in Jamnagar. I was asking him about the varying price across retail outlets and he gave me this information. Both Reliance and Nayara refineries were nearby and they supplied fuel to all outlets around Jamnagar

[srh]

Shell doesn't have a refinery in India. It buys petrol/ diesel from other refiners. So there isn't much merit in assuming that Shell fuels are 'better'. At most, once could factor better control at dealer end (i.e. control on adulteration) and a better retail ambience. But then the PSU behemoths are now in much better control of the adulteration ex-refinery than they were 2 decades back. I haven't really perceived any benefit from paying more for Shell - either diesel or petrol.

[anandhsub]

Originally Posted by mail2vm

I personally feel that there is a huge difference in engine response and smoothness with shell fuel, though they come with a cost.

Yes, but that is due to additives that Shell adds even to regular petrol. Which is why I try and avoid Shell as much as possible.

[isotope729]

Originally Posted by anandhsub

Yes, but that is due to additives that Shell adds even to regular petrol. Which is why I try and avoid Shell as much as possible.

I have seen, and several friends have also noticed that engines are smoother and fuel efficiency is better with Shell petrol. As regards to the additives they add, I assume they won't have any negative impact on engines. I'm not an expert though.

If I'm travelling, I normally top up with Shell petrol. Their washrooms are clean (critical when travelling with ladies), and also have convience stores where I have a quick cup of coffee.

[SaiChaithanya]

Last week I had a chance to talk to a owner of one of the Shell outlets in KA.

The conversation was while he himself filling up my car tank.

I asked him why the fuel prices in small towns is much lower (which is at par with other brands locally) than Shell in cities and he said the calculation involves lot of parameters which will all the way include right from logistics to rental of that retail space and I was like, wait wait… ‘Why does the rental come into picture?’ He said, Shell doesn’t allow dealer to pay the land rent instead Shell pays and includes this in calculation.

So my understanding is that real estate prices vary area to area and that could be major share in fuel difference when compared with real estate price, salaries, electricity charges (if there’s difference from towns to cities) etc. in cities.

And one more thing from my personal perspective is, if Shell wants to penetrate to places like district headquarters, NHs etc. they need to attract local customers by maintaining at par prices with local competition while offering great retail experience else there’s no point of Shell shelling out a lot of money and keeping prices same across and no customer would come.

As we’re on the Shell fuel topic just thought of sharing below additional info which reaches wider audience on performance, mileage, grade queries:

I tried searching the grade of Shell Regular & V-Power Petrol on their website, on the internet, asked staff at the outlets but didn’t get any info.
However the outlet owner said the grade for Regular Petrol is 91 and V-Power is 99 & sometimes 100 which is why all old VAG & VW 2.0 cars come for V-Power for superior performance, mileage, low part maintenance.

My personal experience regarding mileage figures, I own a Suzuki Access which is 7 years old now with ~40k ODO & all fill-ups are Shell Regular Petrol only - in the Bangalore city it still gives 50-54 kmpl which I think is the best & pickup is good too.

And, I’m yet to pull up data for my Virtus 1.0 AT mileage figures but recent figure was 19.5 kmpl for 200 kms drive on a NH and V-Power fill tankful to tankful method.

Once, I had to go with Regular Petrol as V-Power pump had dispensing issue and I noticed there was drop in car performance.

All these comes at extra cost. For me Shell fuel & experience favoured in most of the situations but that can be other way around for few.

[true_sedan]

Originally Posted by SaiChaithanya

I tried searching the grade of Shell Regular & V-Power Petrol on their website, on the internet, asked staff at the outlets but didn’t get any info.
However the outlet owner said the grade for Regular Petrol is 91 and V-Power is 99 & sometimes 100 which is why all old VAG & VW 2.0 cars come for V-Power for superior performance, mileage, low part maintenance.

This is incorrect information. All shell fuels including V-power sold in India is RON 91. This is as per their official Twitter or X handle.

[SaiChaithanya]

Originally Posted by true_sedan

This is incorrect information. All shell fuels including V-power sold in India is RON 91. This is as per their official Twitter or X handle.Attachment 2568267

Thanks for this screenshot! Just wandering what else could be the difference in Unleaded & V-Power while both of their RON is same. And also what information is reaching at least to dealer owners.

I’m not a pro in Chemistry, so anyone with some info on this can tell here would help understanding.

I myself have noticed a considerable drop in performance when I filled Regular (I believe Unleaded in this case).

Also, if their RON for both grades is 91, is it better to stop as VW recommends 95?

[bik1906]

Since we're all in this line of thought process I'm going to pitch another point here...most of us are likely to sell or upgrade our cars long before we see the effects of good fuel in terms of long term engine life....when I started out in the call centers decades ago my van driver had clocked 2.5 lakh kms on his qualis....and there was no talk of high and low octane then and Shell outlets were a pipe dream....that Qualis purred like a pussycat in a nandini milk factory....I've never seen short term benefits in terms of Shell and I would actually like to poll as to how many have actually had significant increases in mileage and whether that was measured on highway or in City conditions....any links to auto magazine articles testing fuel types vs mileage would also be interesting for a concrete conclusion to be drawn

[bugatti]

Originally Posted by bik1906

Since we're all in this line of thought process I'm going to pitch another point here...most of us are likely to sell or upgrade our cars long before we see the effects....articles testing fuel types vs mileage would also be interesting for a concrete conclusion to be drawn

I've been filling Super (higher octane) at the PSU pumps for a decade, switched to Shell v-power for a year. The difference in pick-up is considerable. Not sure if Shell has ethanol-free fuel or the additives for its v-power are different from the PSUs Super but it's there. And it's across all vehicles in the house.

[alpha1]

There are two factors at play:

1) Selling side - every company needs to sell something in the market in order to make a revenue and hopefully make profits.

Every company also needs to trade-off between doing high volume vs high margin (due to competitive pressures). If it is a niches product with few or nil competitors then you may be in a situation to dictate the price, and hence can be in a situation where high volumes can be commanded at high prices (thus ensuring high margins)

All companies have a past (daily) record of what volumes were sold at what price at which retail outlet (RO), and what were the prevailing factors in that duration (seasonality, holiday, strikes, festivals, govt policy decision, presence of competitors RO, ...).

Thus, demand could be forecasting against a series of variables (like price) and the company can decide the best possible price to ensure best possible revenues. These factors (and thus the volume vs price relation) will be different for each location.


2) Cost of manufacturing, transportation, marketing, inventory carrying, commissions etc - there are several costs that go into the entire value chain (exploration, extraction, processing, transportation, refining, transportation, distribution, marketing) and a few of these costs will work out to be different based on the location (typically distribution and marketing). A company cannot afford to sell below the product cost.