I don’t understand how some people are obsessed with building a new refinery when it is far cheaper to expand existing refineries.
We have built the equivalent of several new refineries by expanding the existing ones.
Elk Point was planned to be a 400 MBPD refinery. We have added the equivalent of about six refineries this size.
Expanding existing refineries is also easier to get around EPA regulations.
$10,000 per barrel/day cheaper to expand, according to one of the articles.
OTOH, 1,000+/- fewer miles of pipeline to build from the source to refining, while not then having to ship finished product all the way back again.