Oil and other hydrocarbon products are commodities that are bought and sold on the world market for prices based on US dollars. If the dollar fluctuates in value, so will the price of all commodities that are bought and sold in US dollars. A US refiner pays just as much for a barrel of oil as a Chinese refiner does. Countries with nationalized oil production and refining assets don’t pay the going world rate, it’s set by government policy. Price is also set by recovery costs, meaning how much money and energy is required to get those hydrocarbons out of the ground. Fracking and oil sands can’t compete at less than $80.00 a barrel, until technology can drive that price down, and refiners can utilize all of a feedstock to make one finished product. If you really wanted to make a profit, get the feds to allow the export of crude oil, and let the domestic market come up to the world level for fuel prices.
They can pretend they do not, but when your refinery consumes a barrel of oil worth $100 on the global market, you either value it at $100 or you operate for a loss. When you can make more money selling the barrel than processing it, you are only fooling yourself, reality is government it subsidizing that production.