Our stupid greedy government has set up the US economy to tank.....watch. It's coming.
Still not one new gasoline refinery built since 1976...only 149 operable at this time with another 196 smaller ones siting idle that can handle other products other than gas and diesel.
No modernization of the smaller sites, no public disclosure as to really owns those sites, neither. Add to that no transparency in the futures markets......yup.....it's coming quickly.
I believe you are mistaken if you believe the old plants taken out of service in the 1980's mostly exist, let alone be operable. Most were scavenged of useful equipment, many chopped up and sold either overseas, for other processes or for scrap.
No modernization of the smaller sites
Not economic. It is far better return on the dollar invested to upgrade and expand the bigger refineries with modern processes.
Keep in mind billions of dollars are being spent expanding and upgrading those existing plants. Some of the expansions are bigger than the average refinery. Also, expansions and upgrades have been going on for decades, just not at the current pace. The result is in the 1990's and past 8 years, the total cumulative output capacity in the creation of fuels has risen approximately equal to one new refinery per year including the refineries that were shut down.