Our correspondents conducted a mass "tasting" at the capital's gas stations ... Chad from the exhaust pipe, unpleasant sounds in the engine and a strange lethargy of yesterday's still vigorous "iron horse". Every car owner knows the symptoms of this disease: ...

Our correspondents held a mass "tasting" at the capital's gas stations

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hell from the exhaust pipe, unpleasant sounds in the engine and the strange lethargy of yesterday's still vigorous "iron horse". Every car owner knows the symptoms of this disease: this happens when the car is “poisoned” by low-quality fuel. At best, you will have to change gasoline, at worst, go broke to replace the “engine”. But you will know the name of the poisoner for sure: this is the owner of the gas station where you last bought gasoline.

Any car owner can make his own "black list" of unscrupulous gas stations. We decided to put the spontaneous process of identifying thieving gas stations on a strict scientific basis: Novaya Gazeta, together with the All-Russian Research Institute for Oil Refining (VNII NP), made test purchases of gasoline at ten metropolitan gas stations and conducted a laboratory study of the samples obtained. The result of the analysis speaks for itself: the chemical composition of half of the fuel samples did not meet the requirements of the state standard.

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The plan for the “unscheduled inspection” of Moscow gas stations was simple and effective: having bought ten liters of “ninety-second” at ten randomly selected gas stations, we measured the amount of fuel with special measuring devices and sent 500 grams of each sample to the laboratory of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Oil Refining. We packaged the samples in identical, numbered mineral water bottles, so in the report of oil scientists they appear under faceless numbers. After that, we only had to put down the names of the companies that own gas stations in the resulting table, and the rating of the capital's gas stations was ready.

And we go, and we go for gasoline ...

...Specially bought canisters occupied half of the interior of a battered editorial minibus. Empty plastic bottles from Narzan with numbers pasted on rolled between the tins wrapped in wrapping paper. The driver grumbled with displeasure: for the purity of the experiment, we chose gas stations in different parts of the capital, so the trip was a long one.

The first purchase was made not far from the Kremlin, at the gas station of the Tyumen Oil Company, located opposite the famous Stalinist skyscraper on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment. They bought ten liters of gasoline, poured it into a canister and demanded an accurate measurement. In such cases, by law, gas station employees are required to provide a special device, colloquially called a dipstick.

- Why do you need a measurer? the gas station cashier asked gloomily, carefully examining our editorial certificates through a thick bulletproof window. Then he called a tanker and, for some reason, a security guard on the speakerphone.

The measuring cup, a gray metal structure, looked like a space-style hourglass: two flasks connected by a tube with a viewing window and a chrome scale. Only forty milliliters were missing from the prescribed ten liters.

“Norma,” the gas station clerk said, relieved, to the guard. Let them write now...

Mernik as an indicator of accuracy

At the gas station of the MTK oil company in Ogorodny Proyezd, we could not measure the amount of gasoline purchased there. The refuellers, forty-year-old guys with mustaches, without further ado carried out a crumpled can of a torn-up mernik and, with condescending curiosity, began to watch how we tried to fill it. The device swallowed the entire contents of our ten-liter canister and showed absolutely nothing. There was not even a hint of a measuring glass in the tube coming out of its cylindrical body.

“God knows how to use this thing,” said the gas station cashier. - Just think, a gram less - a gram more ...

The staff of the Korus-Petroleum gas station, located at 43 Volgogradsky Prospekt, responded without enthusiasm to our request for a dipstick.

The manager, whom we managed to fish out not far from the station, dragged a measuring tank out of the back room and poured into it with grim determination all the gasoline from our peeling canister. He squeezed out the last drop for about five minutes, whispering something and grumbling. From the outside it seemed that he was a shaman. Then he spoke about the differences in night and day temperatures, set the temperature of gasoline for a long time and solemnly, with some relief, announced the result.

- I poured ten milliliters, - and immediately turned gloomy.

The petrol station of the BBC company, on Shosseynaya Street, 40, resembles a rural shop at lunchtime - it is so inconspicuous and deserted. Life is glimmering only in the cash register window. Demonstrating an individual approach to the buyer, the cashier told us that she had been working here recently, the dipstick was at the mechanic's, and he himself was at another gas station. It was not possible to measure the accuracy of “topping up” after “foam sedimentation”. True, the cashier assured us that everything was in order: “Nobody has complained yet.”

The gas station of the Tatneft company, located at 45 Nizhniye Mnevniki Street, turned out to be closest to nature. While we were sifting gasoline, a tanker with a Bashkir appearance found a well-fed porcini mushroom - literally ten meters from the fuel tank. There was a measuring stick here, they knew how to use it. The result is an underfill of fifty grams.

The personnel at the British Petroleum gas station located at 62 Sheremetyevskaya Street displayed a distinctly Western approach to customer service. When asked to measure gasoline, the tanker, wiping the red Toyota, responded positively:

- Now the car is home - and we will measure it.

Merili, as expected, in three approaches. The result is standard: an underfill of 40 milliliters ...

The gas station of the Hermes-Moscow company, on 12a Akademika Korolev Street, was remembered for the silence and equanimity of its employees. They measured it quickly and in a businesslike manner - minus fifty grams. Reassured: they say, the margin of error. And they returned to their duties. Not even interested.

A small gas station of the Grand (Slavneft) company is comfortably located on Begovaya Street. Mernik here turned out to be old and faulty. We took it out of the pantry, where next to it we found a mop, a floor cloth, a bucket, a dustpan and several five-liter plastic bottles from mineral water with gasoline samples. The veteran of the measuring front refused to give out information on the amount of fuel ...

At the gas station of the LUKOIL company, on Rochdelskaya Street, we were greeted fussy and distrustful, but all our requirements were fulfilled with sense and arrangement. Merili, however, in one go, and even put a long thermometer into the neck of our canister: it showed 19 degrees. Despite all the manipulations, the fact of underfilling was present - 60 milliliters. But almost the whole team came out to see us off.

At the gas station of the Yukos company, located at 62 Nizhniye Mnevniki Street, we spent a good half an hour. The employees of the dispenser treated our request very carefully: they measured the amount of fuel in accordance with all the rules, commenting in detail on each step:

- First, the measuring cup must be filled so that its inner surface is moistened. And pour it out - it's too early to measure the amount of gasoline. Then it is necessary to repeat this operation - in order to equalize the temperature of the mernik. Now you can measure - the result will be accurate. However, you still need to set the temperature ...

That's just sticking a thermometer into a canister means simply deceiving the people. For the entire summer period, by a special order of the transport inspectorate, standard 20 degrees are set on the scale of the measurer.

Nahimichili…

The transportation of numbered bottles of gasoline to the "oil" institute took half the next working day. At the same time, we listened to a whole lecture on how to falsify "fuel".

According to experts, Russian gasoline spoils the road. As a rule, the fuel obtained at the refinery is quite conditioned. Sellers spoil it by mixing expensive quality varieties with cheap semi-finished product, the so-called straight-run gasoline. At the same time, a fake is masked with various additives. Some of them, such as methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), are practically harmless. But other additives, such as ordinary naphthalene and iron compounds, can lead to irreparable damage to the engine.

It is difficult to catch counterfeiters red-handed: even a specialist cannot determine the quality of gasoline without special equipment. The samples we collected were examined by the scientists of laboratory No. 433. The report fit on two pages of standard typewritten text. The result of the examination, to put it mildly, was not encouraging. We quote:

“From the obtained results it follows:

1. Sample No. 3 does not meet the requirements of GOST R 51105 in terms of "octane number according to the research method".

2. In gasoline samples No. 1, 3, 5, 6, and 8, iron-containing antiknock additives of the ferrocene type were found, which are not provided for by GOST R 1105...

The remaining samples of gasoline meet the requirements of the above regulatory documents for the examined quality indicators.

Let us explain: the worst of all the samples submitted for research was sample No. 3 - this is gasoline sold to us at the gas station of the B-Gas-C company located at 40 Shosseinaya Street. The octane number of this fuel barely exceeded 87.1 - and this is with the declared 92. In addition, iron was present in the fuel - apparently, having first “debossed” it, they tried to “cure” it with this additive harmful to the engine. The experts' verdict was categorical: it is impossible to use this fuel in modern passenger cars.

Sample No. 1, fuel from the British Petroleum gas station at 62 Sheremetyevskaya Street, also has clear signs of “burning”: iron and methyl tert-butyl ether are present in the sample. A lot of iron in sample No. 5 is fuel from the LUKOIL gas station at 14-20 Rochdelskaya Street. Samples No. 6 and 8, purchased by us, respectively, at the gas station of the TNK company (Kotelnicheskaya embankment, building 1) and the Grand company ( "Slavneft"), which is on Begovaya Street, house 2a, is also rich in iron compounds - the use of such fuel will inevitably lead to the failure of automobile candles. Yes, and the injectors of foreign cars are clearly not designed for such a “bodyagi”.

But, according to experts, the quality of other fuel samples is close to the standard. Sample No. 9 turned out to be the best of all - gasoline from the Yukos gas station, located at 62 Nizhniye Mnevniki Street. This fuel fully meets the definition of "high-class fuel." Not bad is gasoline from sample No. 4 (Korus-Petroleum, a gas station at Volgogradsky Prospekt, 43) - it can be safely poured into the tanks of foreign cars demanding fuel quality. Good gasoline is sold by the gas station of the MTK company on Ogorodny Proyezd, the Hermes-Moscow gas stations on Akademika Korolev Street, 12a, and the Tatneft company from Nizhniye Mnevniki Street, 45.

Paradoxically, but the strict formulations of scientists practically repeated the old worldly wisdom: today, like twenty years ago, the best remedy for deception is a personal acquaintance with the seller. According to the head of the laboratory of the All-Russian Institute for Oil Refining Aksenov, it is best to refuel at "your own", "targeted" gas station. Moreover, it’s not bad to ask what kind of company owns it: reputable enterprises protect their good name, not allowing tankers to “body” gasoline ...