Refinery problems - real or master plan?

Question

Price of crude is high. The war is about control of oil in the Middle East, nothing more - nothing less. So what is this about the problem with the refineries? I don't hear any of our elected officials talking about how we can solve that problem, at least for the short term, while we explore alternative fuel options. Now "we" have been doing that since the engine began (wikipedia the word diesel), but somehow the alternative sources "disappear". What are we going to do about the price of non renewable fuel sources???

Answer 1

This is all part of a master plan to keep s******g over the American Public! I say we boycott the USA on it's Birth day, do not go any where for the whole weekend, turn the power, gas off to our homes and not buy fuel from June 29th to July 2nd. This will show a new rebirth and the American public Will no longer take this abuse by our elected officials! I have picked two week ends out of each month to do this, along with other cut backs to save money.

It is time that we start to take care of our own and stop getting involved as the world's corrupt police force. We need to stop all aid going over seas, put strong restrictions on immigration, pull troops out of Iraq ASAP! Get a national health care system, bring in the fair tax law.

We also have plenty of oil in this country, and we should use it to save money. In the mean time other fuel sources that are safer for the environment can be developed. We must demand a time line for completion so we can move forward to protect the environment! I am no longer a Republican and  will never be a Democrat! We need to stop all special interest groups and focus on one interest the CITIZENS OF THE USA! Lets vote for people that are interested in helping us all and have them put their promises in writing. If they do not accomplish them in the time we set -GET OUT!

Answer 2

The refinery issue has been with us for awhile.  

New refineries haven't been built in the US for about 30 years.  The reason?  Mostly environmental laws and lawsuits as well as the "not in my backyard" problem.  No one wants a refinery that stinks and belches smoke next door.

Old refineries mean lots of maintenance problems keeping them running full tilt, and they usually are running full tilt.

There are not enough refineries in the US to process all the demand for petroleum products so we end up importing something like 1.0 million barrels a day of gasoline, and 300,00 barrels a day of distillates (diesel and fuel oil).

The problem with relying on foreign refineries has several aspects to it.  Foreign refineries mean no US jobs, no US property taxes, foreign refining profits that are not taxed by the US and a higher US balance of payments hit due to the fact that imported refined goods are more valuable and costly than crude oil imports.

Foreign refineries are subject to disruptions like we have in Nigeria.  Also, foreign refiners have no particular ties to the US.  If Europeans will pay more for refined products than the market price for them in the US, those products go there.

Answer 3

This surprises me that everyone says get alternative fuel or start riding bicycles.  Does anyone think about the farmers and ranchers????  They live miles away from towns.  How do you expect them to get their grain to market or the cattle and other livestock to market?  The price of fuel is hurting these people and the people in the cities better start thinking about this, because the farmers and ranchers are your food supply.  The working poor is also hurting from the price of gas.  They go to work to stay off social programs, but they can't afford to go to work.  So they don't know what to do.  The price of oil is hurting our economy and our way of life.  The people of the US better start thinking hard about this and get congress to do something about it very soon.  Why don't we turn to coal, there is so much coal in the states that we could live with it for a few generations.  There is no easy answer to this, but something has got to be done soon.

Answer 4

I'll stick just to the refinery issue.

There was/is a master plan to reduce refineries across the nation. The KC Star ran a large article about this. I have found 2 references to this article on these sites

http://donklephant.com/2007/05/04/gas-pr...

http://themoderatevoice.com/society/busi...

Just search for star on these page to call up the references.

Answer 5

I am not sure just what you meant about the problem with refineries. Did you mean the lack of new refineries or the recent breakdowns in some refineries. All I can tell you is from my own experience working as an operator in refineries since 1973 (just retired) that they try to squeeze every drop of crude thru that they can. It is like pulling teeth to get them to shut down for unscheduled repairs so this talk that they deliberatlly cut back on production to raise the price is something I have not seen. They have not built new refineries but many of them have de-bootlenecked their existeing refineries to increase capacity. As far as the price it will never come down in my opinion because people do not care enough about the price to slow down on the freeway and even if we do conserve now China and India will suck it up. Face it , it is time to ride a bicycle, go car free!

Answer 6

NOTHING , as the oil groups have no incentive to do anything about it they are mired in heavy profit taking so why change . Which I feel is so sad when fla lousiana and a few other states can grow sugar cane to make alcohol for alcohol burning cars which the automakers refuse to do or even offer us a alternative vehicle , In short the american people have no choice but to buy the gas guzzlers they sell .and congress sits on there rear doing nothing .

Answer 7

government regulations closed them

Answer 8

The market will take care of everything if governments stay out of the way.

Answer 9

According to a spokesman's from Gulf Oil they don't plan to build any new refineries in the states because there isn't enough profit in it and is to far away from the crude oil,plus not everyone wants a refinery in their back yard,But awhile back Bush said they could build on closed Military Bases.But no responce from big oil, Lets face it people Big Oil controls the goverment.remember the 70's with the so called shortage of Oil,according to statements made back then all the Oil would be gone now!!

Answer 10

It's easy for those feeling the price at the pump to try to place blame on someone.  And there is someone to blame,

us.

Terrorists have been attacking refineries in Nigeria this week, and total refinery capacity is below 90% due to maintenance in preparation for peak driving season, which isn't here yet.

Get used to this as global demand has for the first time ever exceeded supply.  This is because globally oil fields are drying up, and the middle class is on fire in china and india putting thousands of new cars on the road each day.  This causes prices to skyrocket until the price is so high that someone is willing not to buy gas, equalling supply.

What wasn't expected, was that demand in the US hasn't slowed with record high prices, meaning the prices aren't high enough yet for people to start carpooling, taking the bus, or riding their bike.

Ask yourself, have you started taking alternate forms of transportation?.....well, neither has anyone else to amount to much.  That's why we are in this boat.

The best thing everyone can do, is get out of the SUV's and into hybrids and flex-fuel vehicles.  Not that you need to always find the rare e85 station, but if oil skyrockets, and ethanol becomes a lot cheaper, you have options.

Good luck everyone