How many oil refineries are there in the united states?
Contrary to popular belief there are many, spread all over. According to the EIA, 149. However, they are not all dedicated to refining oil into usable gasoline, and 149 still aren’t enough. The real problem, however, is not that there aren’t enough refineries (which, once again, there aren’t,) but that the refineries we have are not working at maximum capacity. Regularly, their parent companies will shut them down or scale them back, dramatically reducing their output. The oil companies say its due to refinery age, reparis, etc. There is much debate, however, as to whether or not these actions are actually deliberate in order to boost prices at the pump. It could be argued that with problems occurring that increase expenses for oil companies that their increase in profits recently makes those same statements of high expenditures false. What adds further weight to the debate is the fact that dozens of refineries have been closed in the past 15 years, which doesn’t add up during a supply
