EU oil market experts wanted here

[dharry]

Hello, I have a question for you: here in the EU oil companies use to sell their motor oil in car parts stores, petrol stations, and in big shopping malls. But in the latter case, they use a different product name (although the brand is the same), but the data about this oil name and the specs regarding it are missing, at least on their websites. I wrote about that to Total, and never got an answer.

Then: is this oil the same that they sell in car parts store, just with the name changed to avoid being sued selling the same product at half the price? For example: elf excellium 5w40 full synth (bought in car parts stores) is the same oil as elf syntech 5w40 full synth (bought in shopping malls)? Or is the shopping mall "syntech" a lower quality oil (although the SAE and API letters are the same)? Or is the shopping mall oil an excellium of some year ago, still very good but not marketable anymore in car parts stores? Price in shopping malls is of course way lower... but how can I get more infos about that?

thanks,

DH

 

[EddieCairns]

In Scotland which is a small country, 90% of the petrol or "gas" in the US speak comes from the Grangemouth refinery in central Scotland. There are only two additive dosing pumps I'm told at the tanker loading bay in the refinery.

There are a number of large Oil companies in Scotland branding petrol in Scotland all saying they each have their own special additives in the petrol. Go figure!

There are also say 30 brands of engine oil in the UK and each brand has say 10 different engine oil products.

That suggests that there are say 300 different oil products developed and produced.

A sensible person would suggest that there is a lot of badge engineering going on there.

Total bought Elf in 2000, I worked for Elf then in the exploration and production area.

All the company is now Total therefore Elf is being used as a brand in certain markets in others they use the Total branding on their products.

I was told by someone who had a tour round the Castrol engine oil plant recently that Castrol were filling containers for other companies with their produtcs.

eddie

 

[solorexpy]

Elf and Total.....Santa's helper and toothpaste...lol.

Sounds like it's all about the arrangement the shopping malls have with the oil companies. Here in the US, Walmart sells branded oil for a significant discount as compared to auto parts stores. The containers even say Walmart on them. The oil is the same as what you get anywhere else. Sounds like it may be similar in Italy.

 

[dharry]

Originally Posted By: solorexpy
The containers even say Walmart on them. The oil is the same as what you get anywhere else. Sounds like it may be similar in Italy.


That's what I think... but why don't they simply tell you: "the elf oil you can find in big shopping malls is the same, or is different and has these specs". If you look on their websites, there's no trace of the product at all, so that someone says it's counterfeited (but it's impossible on such a large scale...).
I would be happy to know what I'm throwing into my crankcase

thanks,

DH

 

[dharry]

Originally Posted By: EddieCairns
All the company is now Total therefore Elf is being used as a brand in certain markets in others they use the Total branding on their products.


I knew the thing about petrol, even here the trucks of the various brands are all filled in the same local refinery, and obviously there's no actual difference between steep and cheap petrol

But regarding motor oil it's different: why on total website there's no trace of the elf branded products that are being sold in big shopping centres?
Someone is hiding infos... and I can't understand why.

thanks,

DH