Some of you who have been here since the beginning may remember how the Booshe misAdministration was clamoring for additional refining capacity as the key to reducing the price of gasoline in the early part of his horrible first term IN SPITE OF the facts;
Boosting Big Oil Profits (from 2001)
And Even Discussed Cutting Refinery Output To Boost Profits
While the Bush administration cites a lack of refineries for energy shortages, internal oil industry documents show that five years ago companies were looking for ways to cut refinery output to boost profits.
It takes about four years to build a large refinery so any substantial additional new capacity from new plants would have had to begin by the mid-1990s, energy experts acknowledge.
Internal documents from some of America's biggest oil companies suggest higher prices at the pump may, in part, be a result of a deliberate strategy to limit domestic gasoline production, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who has been investigating oil prices for two years obtained the documents.
"These documents say point blank, look if you really want to boost your profits, you have to reduce refinery capacity," said Sen. Wyden. "This industry went to great lengths to limit refinery capacity, control markets, restrict supply to boost their profits, increase costs to consumers, and then argue we should relax environmental laws." June 14, 2001
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/06/14/national/main296584.shtmlWell, here comes reality
Record Glut of Oil Refineries Selling at 80% DiscountOil companies from Chevron Corp. to BP Plc are selling more refineries than at any time in history even as a rebound in demand for gasoline and diesel pushes profits from running the plants to the highest level since 2007.
A glut of refineries put up for sale by integrated oil companies after the global recession dragged down profits are now available for 80 percent less than they fetched in 2006, Dahlman Rose & Co.’s Sam Margolin says. Meanwhile Tesoro Corp., the subject of more than a dozen takeover rumors since 2007, has the cheapest valuation among U.S. refiners based on projected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Blackstone Group LP, billionaires David and Charles Koch and energy producers from Brazil and Russia may be eyeing acquisitions of individual plants or company takeovers with refining margins almost tripling since Nov. 1, according to IHS Herold’s John Parry. There are 2.5 million barrels of daily refining capacity for sale globally, he said, enough to process the entire crude output of Nigeria or Norway.
“I’ve never seen this many refineries for sale,” said Louis Gagliardi, managing director of energy at Hedgeye Risk Management in New Haven, Connecticut. Buyers will do well “if the plant has a supply source right in its backyard, or it’s large enough to enjoy some economies of scale,” he said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-22/record-glut-of-refineries-sells-at-80-discount-as-margins-surge-real-m-a.htmlBullshit at the speed of light. EVERY energy crisis EVER, has been manufacturered.
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