[Repeal The 17th]

Is this saying that the existing refineries are under-utilized?
I had been thinking we did not have enough refining capacity.

[hinckley buzzard]

From the point of view of the energy companies this is bad news. From the consumer standpoint, it is good news. It means we have excess capacity whereas before we were stretched to the limit. Less demand in a down economy also works against rises in price.

[Freddd]

To: thackney
Is this saying that the existing refineries are under-utilized?
I had been thinking we did not have enough refining capacity

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We were being told we did not have enough refining capacity......

[okie01]

I had been thinking we did not have enough refining capacity.

We didn't. But, come the recession, demand fell like a stone.

Refineries are high capital operations that need to run at a high percentage of capacity to be profitable. But pushing them into the 97-98% range, as we were, was dangerous, too.

[thackney]

Currently our refineries are under-utilized. This is following several years of rather significant refinery expansion, combined with falling demand in the downturn economy.

We still import refined products. It can be cheaper to import gasoline and diesel, than to import crude oil and submit to US regulation and taxes.