http://www.adn.com/2012/04/10/2416196/tuesdays-oil-gas-gold-and-zinc.html#storylink=rss
North Slope oil yesterday was $118.77 a barrel.
So while refineries using natural gas as an energy source see prices of under $2 per million BTU, this refinery was paying over $21 per million BTU.
As a reference point, I’ve seen older refinery use 0.7 million BTU per barrel of oil processed in South Texas.
Newer or upgraded refineries can reduce well below that, but some are even worse.
If the raw energy cost alone of refining the crude oil are $15 a barrel, there is no way to be cost competitive, even against refineries barging fuel up from Washington State.