Posted on 06/20/2022 9:23:18 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The title of this article may sound like some sort of alarmist doom porn from people who are warning about the downstream impacts of the green new deal, but it’s actually quite serious. The statement that there will probably never be another new oil refinery built in the United States came from Mike Wirth, the CEO of Chevron and a person who should know a thing or two about how the oil and gas industry works. We previously examined the reality that we are heading for devastating shortages of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel because of the number of oil refineries that have gone offline or been converted to process biofuels. Ed Morrissey reported on Joe Biden’s demands that the “greedy refiners” move to “turn the refineries back on” and produce more fuel. Industry leaders responded with a letter explaining how ludicrous that demand was. Now, as the Institute for Energy Research explains, the reality is setting in that there probably won’t be any new refineries being constructed and it’s entirely the fault of the Democrats’ policies.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth does not expect another oil refinery to be built in the United States ever again, due to federal government policies. The last significant refinery built in the United States was in 1976. (A small refinery came online in 2020 in North Dakota). Over the last two years, due to reduced demand from the pandemic and President Biden’s stated policy to reduce the demand for petroleum products, U.S. refineries have been shut down or repurposed to become biofuel refineries.
In a business where investments have a payout period of a decade or more, it is unlikely for investment to be spent on policies where the demand is to be reduced. Wirth stated rhetorically, “How do you go to your board, how do you go to your shareholders and say ‘we’re going to spend billions of dollars on new capacity in a market that is, you know, the policy is taking you in the other direction.”
This isn’t some idle threat or fit of pique on the part of the oil and gas industry. It’s just basic mathematics and economics. The Democrats, now led by Joe Biden, have been warning everyone for years that they were going to find a way to move the world away from the use of fossil fuels. Biden promised to “end fossil fuels” on the campaign trail and enacted policies moving in that direction starting on his first day in office. The oil and gas industry was listening and they’ve responded accordingly. When you told them who you were, they believed you.
The thing that will prevent the “restarting” of the refineries we’ve lost or the construction of new ones is the same situation that slowed and eventually halted the construction of new nuclear power plants in the United States over the past several decades. Construction takes years and massive amounts of money. That issue is exacerbated by the endless, expensive regulatory hoops that must be jumped through. In order for a nuke plant to be able to show a profit, it has to remain operational for decades, otherwise, investors will not put money into the project. And if politicians and the public are acting squeamish about your product, confidence in the long-term prospects is further diminished.
The same applies to refineries, albeit on a somewhat smaller scale. They cost a ton of money to build and bring online. Nobody is going to flush that much cash into such a project when Uncle Sam is threatening to effectively outlaw your product in the next decade. And once a refinery is shut down or converted to produce biofuels, it can’t simply be “switched back on” or reverted to oil processing at the drop of a hat. It’s simply not viable.
The green warriors out there are probably tooting horns and throwing confetti into the air over the idea of the end of oil refineries in America. But when the reality of the coming liquid fuel shortage fully hits home, they will be singing a different tune. Renewable energy still only accounts for at most 13% of the power consumed in this country. We aren’t remotely close to being able to fully convert to electric vehicles, to say nothing of being able to recharge them all. And very nearly all of the food that you eat and the other products you purchase are brought to market in trucks and rail cars that use diesel to operate. There is a massive crisis on the way and everyone with the sense that God gave a goat is trying to warn you about it. And it’s a crisis of your own creation.
Some of the existing ones have been expanded and upgraded so much, they may as well be new plants.
When a refinery is closed down, skilled workers scatter to the wind. Some of them retire. Some of them migrate to better and more secure jobs. So even if the government gave permission for a closed refinery to reopen, it would take a long time to get it back on-line.
We are so screwed.
“There may never be another new refinery built in America”
This probably could have been concluded 20-25 years ago.
American environmentalist are often nutty fruitcakes who are willing to destroy the nation over their idolatrous devotion to nature.
Electric cars? Yeah, right, like they have not and would not still fight tooth and nail to prevent ever expanding the power grid.
A serious number of ‘Rats need to be Che’d.
We should be building 10 new refineries and 20 new nuclear power plants - if the
cretins who populate our government had any brains.
Gas is going remain expensive. We might experience a respite in prices at times (Trump may get reelected in 2024) but it’ll only be temporary.
Nah.... just revoke their citizenship and ban them to Cuba, never to return.
I agree .44%.
dang too large an image- ive asked mods to delete-
And on the subject of oil, Biden will refuse to re-fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve once it is empty.
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Not a pretty picture.
Our Politicians took money to change the a tax code to incentivize sending Tech jobs overseas.
They never had any interest in manufacturing.
Now, the Subsidized Energy force.
.
I saved it!
First, the wealthy individuals behind the environmentalists push a solution. Then, when many people rely on the solution, the Machiavellian individuals behind it proceed to stomp on it. They simply want you all to be gone.
E-scooters were supposed to fix travel in Rome. Then they became a major problem
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/rome-scooter-problems/index.html
Way to defend "Democrat" watermelon marxists.
It may take a decade or more to build a new power plant, obtain all the ever changing permits and meet all the enacted laws intended to thwart such a facility. Once that is all done and the plant is finally completed, it may take another decade or so to settle all the lawsuits through our court system, costing investors millions more.
Germany tried the “Green” energy approach and ended up buying Russian oil and gas. When Russia attacked Ukraine, Germany started rebuilding their shut down coal plants.
Elon Musk has said that if the US intended to go 100% EV, it would need to double its power production capacity. That will NEVER happen in the US in my children’s lifetime.
“My grandfather ride a camel and my father rode a camel. I drive a Mercedes and my son a Land Rover. My grandson will ride a Land Rover but my great grandson will have to ride a camel again”, said Sheik Rashid, founder of Dubai.
The US needs to start investing in camels.
So, it can be done but will it be done? The OP describes reasons it will not because of economic and political conditions that poison the commercial factors.
America’s people are poorly educated and too ignorant to realize how stupid they are all the while thinking their high school degrees make them geniuses about everything.
America, the new socialist Venezuela!
Flush twice!
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