"We've asked our Shell and affiliated Texaco branded stations that were affected to stop selling gasoline due to elevated levels of sulfur in the fuel," said a Shell spokeswoman.
Gasoline with excess sulfur can damage fuel gauges, leaving drivers vulnerable to running out of gas without warning, she said.
This could prove inconvenient for motorists planning to get away for the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend -- typically the kick off for the peak summer driving season in the United States, the world's biggest consumer of motor fuel.
The problem caused the closure of 140 gas stations in New Orleans, Louisiana, amounting to 40 percent of the city's stations, and 450 stations in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tampa and Sarasota in Florida, adding up to five percent of the stations in the Sunshine State.
The fuel was produced from Shell's joint venture Motiva LLC refinery in Norco, Louisiana, the spokeswoman said. She added that the refinery continued to operate during an investigation into the cause of the high sulfur levels.
The gasoline was sold from the company's Kenner, Louisiana, fuel terminal, where the stored gasoline has since been treated with an additive to lower the sulfur content.
The spokeswoman added that the gasoline at the affected retail stations would be returned and treated to remove the excess sulfur.
Shell Oil is a unit of Royal Dutch/Shell Group.
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I just purchase a SUV in January of 2004. I reside in Sarasota. I purchased gas from Texaco, and Shell all the time as I travel to Tampa and other locations throughout the state. After I fillied my gas tank to the brim with Shell gas in Tampa-I noticed the fuel gas indicator level indicated my gas tank was empty. I purchased more gas in Sarasota-thinking it might be a fuse or something electrical. There's no hole in the gas line of this brand new vehicle-so I went to an auto repair shop to ask why all of a sudden the gas gauge shows my gas tank on empty. I was told that the tank fuel sensor was damaged, and that is would cost me approximately $800-to fix the problem. I was told that it probably was bad gas. I thought myself-oh no-not again, because I have purchased 4 vehicles in the last 5 years and everyone has had the same symptom for it's demise-bad gas. Volvo-bad gas, (2)Jeep SUVs-bad gas, Bonneville Station Wagon-bad gas, and 2 Ford Explorer's-one now with and indication of bad gas. 3 cars have been donated as I gave up trying to contend with the same problem over and over. Now I just purchased these Ford SUV's because I "REALLY" need transportation, and I'm so paranoid about being without transportation-and with jobs being tight-I just can't afford to not have a good working car. I feel that these fuel companies have been selling this bad fuel for years in Florida, and there may be a bad health environment hazard associated with the bad gas. If it wasn't for the sensor going bad-I'm sure they would have continued to sell this bad fuel. Now either they conspired to sell this gas to an area of the country that has little environmental protections regarding emissions, or the are negligent in selling a bad product to consumers? ANYWAY, I would like to know if there is anyway, that I can suit to at least repair my vehicle, and I'd like to know how to get an investigation started to find out how many other Oil companies are operating the same way in my state. As high as the price of gasoline is-I should be purchasing-the real thing, and the real thing should not be damaging my vehicle-or my health.
Has anyone else had this same problem with purchasing bad fuel?
This is so disgustingly like the US Oil Companies to try and pull a fast one like this. However, now that it's out, my understanding is that you can have the sensor repaired and shell must re-imburse you for the repair.
