Listers,
I read the new today, Oh Boy!
Here is the story behind the drop in premium gas octane from 92 to 91. It
has to do with some Union 76 patents, the first being the '393 patent (U.S.
5,288,393) and four subsequent ones granted Unocal that essentially block
other refiners from making octane above 91 on a cost effective basis without
infringing. As a consequence, as a group, the other oil companies have
decided to dodge the bullet by lowering their octane to 91 using the
non-patented method. Isn't it wonderful how our patent system stimulates
technology?? You might think that at least at the Union 76 station you could
get 92 octane, right? Wrong! Since they all have to pump their gas through
the same pipe, they are all forced to sell 91 octane gas.
When I first heard from Steve Sage about his pinging problem, I was
skeptical that a change of 1 octane point could be so significant. Lately,
though this problem has hit the press and a lot of people with older, high
compression engines are noticing pinging problems. From what I read, the
problem will get even worse when they phase out the MTBE in a couple of
years and start using ethanol instead. Then, we'll be lucky if we still can
get 91 octane.
I think this story is going to get even more interesting as the impact of
what has been happening becomes more widely known.
TTFN,
Bob
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