The few oil refineries left in the U.S. are making record profits. This is a result of the combination of environuts and the ageing beyond usefulness of others. Refineries have been upgraded to handle all the new mixes and it took them almost 15 years to do it. With the single exception of dams, refineries are the most capital intensive operations in the modern world. Current capacity is only 18 million barrels per day. The UK version of the Financial Times has a good story. I don't know how accessible it is.

US refineries were unlikely to spend more capital because they had earmarked $20bn (£10.9bn) to upgrade plants for stricter emissions laws, leaving them with little money to expand capacity. Mr Saunders said: "It's going to cost more to make gasoline. They will want to wait a few years to see their money back before spending more funds.

As an add here, we have a refinery in NoCal (Tosco now owned by Conoco/Phillips) that is so old that employees are being killed, but this makes no difference to the environmental lobby. In a sane society it would be closed down or completely rebuilt. It ain't likely that new refineries will be built in California. In fact, from 1985 to 1995, 10 California refineries closed, resulting in a 20 percent reduction in refining capacity. Further refinery closures are expected for small refineries with capacities of less than 50,000 barrels per day (1 barrel = 42 gallons; 50,000x42 divided by 2=a lot of gasoline. Half the production of a refinery goes to gasoline). The cost of complying with environmental regulations and low product prices (now changed with the $40 crude price)will continue to make it difficult to continue operating older, less efficient refineries.

To comply with federal and state regulations, California refiners invested approximately $5.8 billion to upgrade their facilities to produce cleaner fuels, including reformulated gasoline and low-sulfur diesel fuel. These upgrades received permits since low-sulfur diesel fuel regulations went into effect in 1993. Requirements to produce federal reformulated gasoline took effect at the beginning of 1995, and more stringent state requirements for CARB reformulated gasoline went into effect statewide on April 1, 1996.

It won't get better because because a large part of the refining capacity is in NoCal, home of the Pelosi Democratic enviro-Nazi hordes. They produce around 145 million gallons of gasoline each day, some of it from really old refineries that have not been allowed to upgrade.

California refineries supply gasoline to most of the southwest (AZ, NV,) and some to southern Oregon. I'm not prepared to give the national stuff right now.