I think you find these articles all related and adding up to No Oil Shortage.
KEY FUNDAMENTAL: This week’s EIA report was enlightening to say the least. US refinery operating rates fell 1.6% to 81.4% of capacity. Read that again. With gasoline prices at record levels, consumers screaming for relief, congressional hearings, and an economy in or heading for recession,
refineries are producing gasoline at only 81.4% of their total capacity. That is down more than 10% from just a few months ago. There are several reasons cited for this: An aging (some call antiquated) and inefficient US refinery system, a shortage of MTB (the additive refiners must include in summer gasoline) and shut downs due to seasonal maintenance. All of these could be contributing to US refineries operating at 9% lower capacity than is normal for this time of year. But they are not the main reason. The main reason is that US refineries are deliberately scaling back operations.
WE DON'T NEED OIL REFINERIESWhy would US refiners do this? The answer is, of course, money.
http://tinyurl.com/6d9f8hUPDATE 1-Valero cuts gasoline output due to poor margins
Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:26pm EDT
NEW YORK, March 11 (Reuters) - Valero Energy Corp. (VLO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the largest refiner in the United States, has slightly reduced gasoline production from its refineries as soaring crude prices weaken profit margins, the company's CEO said on Tuesday.
The move comes even as prices for gasoline at the pumps soar through record highs.
Bill Klesse, Valero's chairman and chief executive officer, told reporters at the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association meeting that recent negative profit margins in the Upper Midwest forced Valero to slightly curtail rates at some fluid catalytic cracking units.
"I don't feel the obligation that we have to run at a loss and our shareholders would not expect us to run at a loss," Klesse said. He added he expected profit margins to improve heading into summer, when road travel typically peaks.
Although Klesse did not specify which refineries are running at reduced rates, he noted that the Chicago gasoline crack spread -- an indication of profit margins -- was negative for much of February.
U.S. refining profitability has been running well-below the last year's levels as an economic slowdown dampens fuel consumption and oil prices vault to record heights.
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN1162076820080311
1. There Is No Shortage
In fact, average gasoline reserves on hand have risen since this past October, while oil reserves in this country have gone up virtually every week this year—and only fog in the Houston Ship Channel that kept oil tankers from unloading their crude one week kept it from being every week.
In January of this year, the U.S. used 4% less petroleum than we did a year ago. (Oil demand was down 3.2% in February.) Furthermore, demand has been falling slowly since July of last year. Ronald Bailey of Reason Online has pointed out that worldwide production of oil has risen 2.5% in the first quarter, while worldwide demand has grown by only 2%.
Production is expected to increase by 3.3% in the second quarter, and by as much as 4.1% by the third quarter. The net result is that the U.S. daily buffer for oil production against demand, which was a paltry 1.5 million barrels as recently as 2005, is now up to 3 million barrels in excess capacity today.
WE DON'T NEED OIL DRILLING OR PUMPING. TOO MUCH SUPPLY - LESS DEMAND
So what is going on here? Why would our Energy Secretary say there's a supply and demand problem when none exists? Why would he say that speculators have little or nothing to do with the incredibly high price of oil and gasoline, when it's clear they do? President Bush—a former oilman—gives the ever-growing demand for gasoline as the primary reason prices are so high, yet that notion can be dispelled with one minute of research. That's the problem with rhetoric; it rarely matches the facts.
http://businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/apr2008/bw2008041_945564.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives
Blaming big oil
Two foreign companies broke ground Monday on construction of the largest oil refinery in the U.S. in the Gulf Coast town of Port Arthur.
Motiva Enterprises LLC, owned by Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco, will invest $7 billion to expand an existing refinery.
That's the biggest capital investment Texas has ever received, and it comes at a time when refiners are enjoying fat profits, state officials said.
OPEC TO SEEK CONTROL OF US PRICES BY BUILDING A TX REFINERY
At OPEC's recent summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, OPEC Secretary General Abdulla El-Badri faulted the big oil companies for not expanding their refineries quickly enough to keep pace with rising global demand.
He said that refiners were running at only 87 percent capacity and that this was one reason oil prices were so high.
On Monday, Mr. al-Khayyal complained about U.S. officials considering restrictions on foreign investments. But he said he hears a lot from President Bush's administration about "needing to continue our partnership."
"We have faith that the decisions made would be good for consumers," he said.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/121107dnbusrefinery.2894c91.html
So you can see, no shortage of oil, demand is dropping with new fuel efficient cars, no new refineries needed. And Congress stop filling the National oil reserve which is over 95% full. Folks we have all the oil we need without drilling off shore or in ANWR. Thousands of oil wells are capped in the USA, and just awaiting a pump. The Big oil sits on leases of the biggest oil reserves in the world, right here in America, and refuse to pump from it. Congress is considering taking those leases away.
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