Posted on 06/17/2007 5:17:13 AM PDT by Flavius
The U.S oil industry is scaling back its plans to expand refineries, which could keep gasoline prices high for years to come.
President Bush has called for a 20 percent decline in gasoline use by 2017 and the Senate is debating legislation for huge increases in the use of ethanol as a motor fuel.
Oil companies are becoming uncertain about future gasoline demand and plan to scale back on refinery capacity.
Refiners are currently unable to keep up with demand and imports are down because of greater fuel demand in Europe and elsewhere.
More refinery cancelations are expected if Congress passes its ethanol legislation.
so tortilla chips will be high along side the oil we get from our friends overseas
yay good times
More Bush legacy.
yeah every feel like your getting hosed by your own
Well, it might be wrong, too.
“Valero Energy Corp. is taking another step toward expanding its Norco refinery by seeking approval of $1 billion in Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds from the St. Charles Parish Council.
Company officials stressed that they have not committed to the project to expand the refinery’s capacity from 220,000 barrels of crude per day to 380,000 barrels, but the company is lining up permits and financing before making the decision.
“The permitting process is kind of lengthy, so it’s best to get the permits in place before taking it to the board for approval,” Valero spokesman Bill Day said Friday.”
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/118197314065850.xml&coll=1
“A secretive project dubbed “The Gorilla” by inhabitants of Elk Point, S.D., turns out to be a planned 400,000 barrel-a-day oil refinery. That’s right. Do not adjust your computer monitor. A refinery. If actually built, it would be the first new one in this country since Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) opened its Garyville, La., plant in 1976.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19246620/
If they refine it, we can find a way to burn it ... if only to have fun.
I don't see what everyone is whining about. It's what everyone has been demanding- higher prices to force development of alternate fuels.
Besides, This will just speed up the use of modren diesel engines in passenger vehicles, which are not only 20-30 % more fuel efficient than a gas engine, they produce less carbon emisions as well, which will be needed to meet new emission standards.
The USA has been lagging some 40 years behind Europe in the use of diesel engines in passenger cars, part of that reason is because the American public thinks diesel engines are stinky and noisey, which they are if built in detroit, and run on the high sulfer diesel produced in the USA.
Bringing up the standards for diesel fuel will allow the American driver to enjoy what European drivers have for years, quiet, efficient and powerful diesel engines, which are even more practrical and efficient than any hybrid, and cheaper as well.
The increased use of diesel engines will also fit in well with existing infrastructure, utilize alternate fuel blends, such as bio diesel blends, ethanol being a nessesary component in the biodiesel esterfication process, and use existing delivery infrastructure. If you think diesels are noisey, go test drive the Dalmer/Chrysler diesels in some 2007 vehicles. They are very quiet, and don't smell at all. You'd never know you were driving a diesel except for the very pleasant power improvement.
I think renewable fuels will be a Bush legacy, although the dems and the MSM will work overtime not to give Bush or the GOP any credit. IMHO, we need to be hustling to brand this as our success story.
Installed wind capacity in the U.S. has quadrupled since 2000 and we've led the world in new capacity the last couple of years. Ethanol has more than tripled and will double again over the next two years; even without cellulosic ethanol, it will be providing 10% of U.S. transportation fuel needs within a few years. We're the world leader here as well. Biodiesel has gone from essentially zero (2 million gallons a year) in 2000 to 275 million gallons last year and is headed toward 700 million gallons by the end of the decade. (Still a drop in the bucket, however, unless new feedstocks come online.) The first commercial scale cellulosic ethanol plants are being built right now. Other renewable technologies are also coming to life.
I am also all for developing tar sands and oil shales, drilling in ANWR and offshore, and building more refineries. I think we're going to need all of it, plus nuclear. Conventional oil has risen from $20 to over $60 a barrel and India and China aren't going to go away. Even if the risk premium disappeared overnight, we're still in a new ballgame on energy.
The dems have been obstructionist on energy development for years. Essentially all they've proposed is higher CAFE standards and harassment of the oil industry. Now that new energy sources are beginning to come online, the dems are shifting their ground and trying to take credit. We shouldn't let them. If you look at the upward point of inflection on the renewable energy growth curves, they have all taken off in the last six years. This is our success story. I'm not inclined to give it away.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe ten years from now, conventional oil will be $25 a barrel. But I think it's liklier to be $100 a barrel and we'll be kicking ourselves for not doing more faster on alternatives.
Not just ethanol. The Diesels are coming! The Diesels are coming!
And it’s not just the diesels. An industry insider told me that Toyota is aiming to have hybrids comprise 40% + of their sales by 2010.
Interesting that Hyperion Oil is looking at a site in South Dakota, the heart of corn ethanol country, to build a new refinery.
The oil companies are quietly working on alternatives as well. It’s smart business for them to look ahead. My brother in law is a pipe fitter working on an ethanol plant in southern Indiana. I don’t recall the name of the company but he calls it an Exxon subsidiary due to the fact that Exxon is paying the bills.
I thought Bush was a proponent of ANWR as well as drilling in the gulf.
IIRC the President even had a majority in Congress to get this passed....
Oh that’s right it was MINO. (Majority In Name Only)
Once again, the govt gets involved in the market place and SCREWS it up!
Murphy Oil has plans for a $billion expansion in Superior Ws. But the idiot governor wants to slap them with a refinery tax (it’s the only refinery in the state) that would make it criminal to pass the tax on to consumers. Needless to say, the plans are on hold.
If Valero could post $5.5 billion in profits for 2006, and they had the money to announce a $6 billion stock repurchase plan in April, then why do they need a federal subsidy to expand their core business?
Is this Murphy’s coker project ?
The US is already importing not only oil but refined gasoline itself. One reason prices are high. No matter how much is invested in ethanol it has the hallmarks of a 1970's-ish temporary measure. There is something Carteresque about it. There will always be a need for domestic refinery capacity to increase. I tend to be skeptical of the proposition that ethanol "competition" would lead big refiners to scale back plans by itself.
If cheap money is available for investment the corporate officers would be stupid, irrational and misfeasant not to use it.
If my tax dollars are used to promote expansion of the energy supply by the private sector then I say That's a better use for them than most of what they get spent on.
No doubt. But if public funds are a finite quantity then it makes little sense to devote a large percentage to companies that need it the least.
So with farmers making a mint from the Ethanol debacle, can we now cancel the payments from the last “Farm Bill” welfare boondoggle?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.