As I already commented upon and you disregarde, the oil coporations are selling and closing refineries as a consequence of the politicians making it operationally and/or financially necessary to do so. The EPA is making it increasingly difficult to continue the operation of refineries, especially the older refineries where the costs of retrofitting the latest emssions controls and spill safety mandates are too uneconomical or risky due to potentail lawsuits. The refinery must then either be sold to a comapny who can justify the costs and risks of legal complications or the refinery must be closed, demolished, and the real estate remediated at great expense. Given the political landscape where there is no relief in sight for many years to come, what would you have them do? do you really think they should take such financial and other risks when there is not enough consumer demand to keep the refinery from being idled or not enough market for its products to remain profitable?
Horsecrap. The refiners themselves have admitted such:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/why-are-gas-prices-so-bizarrely-high-right-now/273357/
"Atlantic Basin capacity closures have improved refining fundamentals," the nation's biggest refiner, Valero, said in a slide presentation at a Credit Suisse conference this month. It estimated that nearly 1 million barrels a day of refinery capacity has been closed on the East Coast or in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the past two years, which Valero said allowed it to increase profit margins.
And BTW, I don’t blame refiners like Valero from making business decisions to improve their margins. Just don’t pretend this is all the fault of the enviro-weenies. Blame is all around here.