When will the United States allow another oil refinery to be built?

Question

When was the last oil refinery built? when will the next one be built? Why does it take sooo long to build one? What is the argument against building more oil refining capacity?

Answer 1

The U.S. government doesn't restrict refineries for other than environmental reasons.  It is the oil business that determines whether it wants to build new refineries.  The refineries that exist now have the ability to expand their capacity without building any new facilities.  The U.S. is not constricted by refining capacity.  

The world is scrambling for more oil.  The U.S. has used the majority of the worlds oil production.  Now the rest of the world (the other 95 percent) wants oil too.

Answer 2

There is a problem with getting new refineries built due to getting them approved due to the environmental impact statements. Also, no one wants a refinery in their back yard. US refineries are running at about 88% capacity (see the link) which for all intents and purposes is really 100% due to regular maintenance and fuel mix change overs. There are 150 refineries in the US (see link) and while they can expand, they do not have limitless land on which to expand on. The last refinery built in the US started up in 1976. There is an interesting article that explains all this better then I can, see the third link below.