Why Oil Majors Don’t Want to Build New U.S. Refineries

By Tsvetana Paraskova – OilPrice.com

U.S. President Donald Trump told oil producers and refiners that he wants lower gasoline prices, immediately, at a meeting at the White House this week.

As gasoline prices remain above $4 per gallon on average across the United States and drivers are heading for the most expensive Labor Day weekend gas prices on record, President Trump urged executives from Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, Valero Energy, and PBF Energy, among others, to raise refining capacity to increase fuel availability.

The problem for the U.S. Administration two months ahead of the mid-term elections is that American refiners cannot raise output in the short term. They have been running at full capacity for the entire summer, as the U.S.-Iran war has crippled crude and fuel supply out of the Middle East and depleted global inventories after many governments, including the U.S., tapped strategic resources to ease the worst supply disruption in the history of oil markets.