The extraordinary lies about the need for building refineries…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 10:42 AM Permalink

…being told by bush, and soon Mc'Splain, require lots of explaining to the public.

According to the BBC there have been 24, yes TWENTY-FOUR refinery closings in America between 1995 and 2001:

In 2001, Senator Ron Wyden authored a comprehensive report on the state of the US refining industry.

He noted that between 1995 and 2001 there were a total of 24 refinery closures in the United States.

These lost America around 830,000 barrels per day of gasoline. That is about the same amount of capacity lost to Katrina alone.

No new refineries

Wyden uncovered several memos and internal documents from major oil companies. These charted the way that capacity in the US refining industry was reduced to maintain higher profits.

Wyden received one such memo from oil company Texaco, written in 1996. The company felt it was quite clear that petrol supplies needed "reducing."

"The most critical factor facing the refining industry on the West Coast is the surplus refining capacity, and the surplus gasoline production capacity," said the memo.

"The same situation exists for the entire US refining industry. Supply significantly exceeds demand year-round. This results in very poor refinery margins, and very poor refinery financial results. Significant events need to occur to assist in reducing supplies and/or increasing the demand for gasoline."

It should be crystal clear to a blind fool by now that the oil companies, with the direct complicity of the government meant to look out for the interests of all citizens, have closed refinery after refinery in order to REDUCE the supply of gasoline and thereby keep raising prices despite a plentiful supply of oil and cheap gasoline.

[…]it is Opec that is building the new refineries for the world.

Indonesia is to build a new refinery in Tuban, Java. Kuwait is spending $9.8bn to build a huge new 600,000bpd refinery near Kuwait City plus upgrades to other refineries in Al Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah. Nigeria are investing over $2bn in refinery capacity and Qatar are undertaking billions of dollars of investment in gas-to-liquids (GTL) which produces liquid fuels from natural gas deposits.

Saudi Arabia are to spend $11.3bn upgrading some existing refineries, but also to build a massive new plant at Yanbu on the Red Sea. As well as this, the Saudi state oil company Saudi Aramco are investing in joint ventures overseas in China in Qingdao and Fujian.

Paul Horsnell from Barclays Capital again

"We're stuck in an imperfect world," observed Mr Horsnell.

"Refining shortages are going to play a key role in price formation.

"There are no firm expansions in refining capacity, not just in the US but in North America, South America and Europe. All of the expansions are in the Middle East and Asia."

There is a undoubtedly a problem with the world's refining capacity. Opec's new refineries will not come online until around five years from now. By then demand levels could be even higher than they are now. But what it may cost to fill your car by then, is anyone's guess.

It is way past time for people to become informed of this scam perpetrated by the richest countries in the world, force our government to merely return to our former refining capacity, not by building new refineries, but just by opening the perfectly good refineries we already possess.

We have become a nation of sheep, contented to graze on the pastures of our former glory and afraid to confront the Big Bad Wolves of Business from which the Shepherds of our country are meant to protect us instead of leading us to slaughter.

Labels: bad laws, betrayal, big oil, bush hypocrisy, Conservatives, conspiracy, corruption, disinformation, lies, propaganda