NO LIE!
This is a joke! All refinery units are bought down for maintainence on two to four year cycles. They can only run about four maybe stretching to nearly five years before they have to be shutdown for repair.
The other joke is reducing stocks of gasoline and motor fuels! Would you not expect the stocks to reduce when you are at peak consuption? That is how the refining business operates EVERY year. They build gasoline, diesel and AV / jet fuel inventory in the spring and sell it down in the summer. In the fall they build stockpiles of fuel oils, propane and kero for winter demand and sell it down in the winter to make room for the spring build up of you guessed it! Motor fuels!
It has been a repeating cycle for the 25 years I've worked in refineries...
That's what determines our fleet average MPG, nothing else.
Like mother planning the family meals, nothing left over, nothing to waste.
The car companies dial in the MPG at mothers beckoning.
Which means the cycle should already be "priced into" the cost of oil--we shouldn't see spikes just because some refinery is performing routine maintenance.
Thanks for setting the record straight. I've been in the O&G exploration business for 28 years and can easily remember $10 crude and $1.35 Natural Gas. Most fools on these energy threads don't have a friggin' clue.