Hundreds Of Arco Stations Becoming USA Gasoline

March 17, 2012 9:35 AM

Reporting Juan Fernandez

Filed under

Business, Consumer, Heard On Radio, Local, News, Syndicated Local, Watch + Listen

Photo Galleries

'Carmageddon II'

Car Snapped: Celebrities On The Go

CBSLA Hurricane Relief Telethon

Cute Dogs And Cars

ANAHEIM (CBS) — A major change is coming to gas stations as BP moves forward with plans to move out of Southern California.

The oil giant is selling its operations in the southwest in order to pay for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which devastated the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, KNX 1070′s Ed Mertz reports.

The move is leaving many Arco franchise owners stunned. Some have been told that in two years, they will have to go.

“I was assured that by making this decision Arco had no plans of ever letting the station go back to Thrifty because it’s such a valuable site,” Mike Engel, who owns an Arco gas station in Anaheim, told CBS2′s Juan Fernandez.

Engel, however, is not alone.

Fernandez reports that 257 Arco gas stations will be replaced by Tesoro-owned USA Gasoline outlets.

Bobby Alloush, who owns two stations, has been told to leave by May. He says the pullout will hurt drivers who rely on Arco’s low prices.

“They control the market because they’re low gas. So if there’s a Chevron across the street from you, they have to be close to you. Now there’s no Arco anymore, they don’t really care. They are going to work on any margin they want,” Alloush said.

Some Arcos could actually be rebranded as Shell stations, according to Fernandez.

In all, about 2,000 employees will lose their jobs.

Hundreds Of Arco Stations Becoming USA Gasoline

Chuey

I am old enough to remember that ARCO used to be called ‘Richfield’. In fact ARCO is short for Atlantic Richfield Company. Sadly, we re controlled by our dependence on foreign oil. Do I have any suggestion? No…but I will not buy gas there unless they give it away.
Doug

Your politicians in cahoots with the greedy c.e.o.’s are causing all these problems. Get rid of all the arrogant California senators.
Vannessa

My first job was at Arco’s CA corporate headquarters in La Palma, CA. It’s low quality gas that’s bad for auto/truck engines. They cut costs by not adding any detergents and adding 10% ethanol which is more than twice as much as other gas companies. If you ever go to a smog check station and your car “fails”…unless its something major like the catalytic converter fill your entire gas tank up with Chevron 91 octane…get it re-tested and it will probably pass. Arco still doesn’t have an answer as to why this happens. We use to get tons of complaints with people saying things like “your gas made my car fail the smog” etc…I will stop here before Arco gets my IP address and sends one of their investigators for speaking the truth about their horrific gas. If your one of those people who drive their cars past 100K miles…don’t use Arco choose any other major brand. After extensive research I personally use Chevron (91 if its required by the people who built the engine or 87 for all others). There is a big reason why ALL commercial airline companies choose only Chevron gas in their jets. You will NEVER see an Arco gas truck on ANY airport tarmac

Peter

LOL -I WORK AT LAX AIRPORT. VERY TRUE – ALL THE MINI GAS TRUCKS THAT COME IN WITH JET FUEL ALL SAY CHEVRON. NEVER NOTICED THAT UNTIL I READ YOUR POST BUT IT DOES MAKE SENSE BECAUSE IF I HAD A BOEING JET CARRYING 200+ PEOPLE I SURE THE HELL WOULDN’T FILL IT UP WITH ARCO GAS. WE ALL KNOW THE AIRLINES ARE ALL ABOUT CUTTING COSTS BUT THEY HAVE NOT GONE THAT LOW IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY AND LONGEVITY OF THEIR JETS
George

There is so much incorrect information in Vannessa’s post. I don’t work for Arco or BP, but I do work for one of the local Southern CA refiners. All gas sold in CA has detergent additive, Arco has a proprietary additive similar to Chevron, Shell, 76, and Exxon. Costco, Thrifty, 7-11, and independent stations us a generic additive. All gas sold in CA uses 10% ethanol. It is a statewide standard, similar to octane or sulfur content. All refiners buy and sell gas to each other on a fairly consistent basis. It is quite possible that gas that you buy at a Chevron station is made by a different refinery (such as BP), blended with ethanol and Chevron’s additive, then delivered to a Chevron station. I have used Arco 87 octane gas about 90% of the time for the past 20 years and I have never had engine trouble or failed a smog check.

Gummikuh

Most people are blithely unaware that Shell exited So Cal years ago, selling their refinery in Wilmington (formerly Texaco’s refinery) and their name to Tesoro, from Texas. All those “Shell” stations are really selling Tesoro product.
USA Gasoline often comes from the 76 rack in south central LA, and when 76 runs out of product for them it comes from another place called Kinder Morgan in CArson, which buys gas from all the local refiners and comingles it in the same tanks. 7-Eleven, Costco, G&M, Valero, and the stations branded as “Exxon” (World Oil) all get their gas from Kinder Morgan. Valero’s Wilmington refinery is just one of the sources of gas stored at Kinder-Morgan, but it’s the exact same stuff Costco sells you for less money and on some loads the exact same stuff going into a USA station.
Union 76 hasn’t been “Unocal” since 1992. Unocal is no more and so is the Union in the brand name. The current 76 brand name was first sold to a company called Tosco which also owned Circle-K, but they were bought by Conoco-Phillips circa 2002 and the product comes from either the original 76 refinery in Wilmington or an ancient Shell refinery in Carson that is across Sepulveda Bl from the Arco refinery.
Gummikuh

Btw George, I drove gas trucks to pay for grad school, and I have personally loaded stones with the gas at the Arco Vinvale rack. The blend might be like other fuels, but the facilities are garbage and I have failed a jet fuel load when the old Texaco rack inspected my tank before loading there, after an Arco load, and found rocks and dirt in the bottom my tanker.
I loaded gas instead and delivered my rocks to an unsuspecting gas station. You could hear them rolling down the delivery hose!

marc

i disagree that arco gas is bad i bought a 1980 mustang in 1980 and have never used anything other then arco gas and the car runs perfect the body looks like hell but the engine runs fine. it has never failed smog because of the gas
BIG JOHN

my old chevy impala will not run on arco gas. i put shell ,76 or any other good gas & it runs fine.

Lori

I have a 2005 Ford F-150 and have always used chevron, 76 and shell but last week the only thing around was an Arco…i filled up and the next day i get a “check gas cap” light on my dash. So I take it to the dealer and after they make sure the gas cap was tight the light was still on and then they replaced the gas cap with a new one and the light was still on so finally the service manager walks up and goes “do you use arco gas?” i said for the first time…yes. He goes “bingo! their high ethanol content among other things trigger this sensor pretty often so fill up with another brand next time”. A week later I filled up with Chevron and within hours the light when off…permanently! F*** Arco gas…NEVER AGAIN!

http://www.bbonews.com/2012/03/17/spokesman-news-of-arcos-withdrawal-blown-out-of-proportion-long-beach-press-telegram/ Spokesman: News of ARCO's withdrawal 'blown out of proportion' – Long Beach Press-Telegram – BBONews.com

[...] stations for sale as BP plans to leave SouthlandLos Angeles TimesSan Francisco Chronicle -CBS Localall 57 news articles » Posted by admin on March 17th, 2012 Tags: [...]
la152

Thank the 61% of CA voters that squashed prop 23, the suspension of the Global Warming Act. Arco immediatly put their refinery on the market. Another co to leave CA, way to go CA!
pmc

We haven’t used any gas other than ARCO in many, many years and our OLD CARS, 2000 & 2002, run just fine with no major repairs. We will hurt financially when they are gone, they are soooo much cheaper than other brands.
Roger Thornhill

I don’t use ARCO, not because of fuel quality, but if you use a debit or credit card, almost all of them charge a 45-cent “convenience fee” that’s not posted on any sign until you get to the point of purchase. That’s why their prices look cheaper. Buyer beware. Now, if they advised the fee up front, okay, I’ll decide to pay or not, but you don’t find out until you park your car and go to pre-pay. Dubious. Hopefully, USA gas will change that.
Rick L

ive got a 2001 chevy silverado it has 389000 miles on it and still runs great, 95% of the gas ive used is arco on top of better prices
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/03/19/bp-reports-of-arco-exodus-from-socal-blown-way-out-of-proportion/ BP: Reports Of Arco Exodus From SoCal ‘Blown Way Out Of Proportion’ « CBS Los Angeles

[...] the current leases expire, those stations would likely revert back to Thrifty Oil Co. branding, which contracts with Texas refiner Tesoro to operate the stations under the USA Gasoline [...]
http://propertycloud.co.za/2012/03/hundreds-of-arco-stations-becoming-gasoline-usa/ Hundreds Of Arco Stations Becoming Gasoline USA – Property Cloud

[...] Read the full story and more. [...]