With our refineries running near capacity or at capacity, what does drilling for more oil accomplish?

With no oil company in this country building a new refinery for over thirty years, what does more drilling accomplish?





To the best of my knowledge, no oil company applied for the permits to build one. People love to place all the blame on the environmentalists, which does have an impact and it should, I don't want any industry to just pollute at will with no fear of reprisal. We all know money talks, look at WalMart building that massive runway in bum phuck Arkansas, when a local airport was only running at thirty percent capacity. The point, it wasn't profitable for companies to build any new ones, and with the money they are currently making, it is especially true now. So what does more drilling accomplish if we can't process the oil?With our refineries running near capacity or at capacity, what does drilling for more oil accomplish?
Refineries are operating at 78% capacity..Your correct none has been built for the last 30yrs.. Exon Mobil ,,made IN PROFIT ,,in 2007,,$1287.00 each and every second of every minute of every hour ,,of every day for the entire year of 2007..Can you seriously think that they will search for an alternative source of energy,,with profits like that ?? This year,,their profits are up 90% over last year for the first quarter of 2008 !! Our government is owned by Big Business.. Reagon allowed big oil to buy and shut down the little refiners back in the 80's against the Anti trust laws on the govt. books,,effectively giving big oil total control of the flow..I have never witnessed a Republican who ever did anything for the common working man ,,except ,,use him ,,abuse him,,and tell him its the LEFT LIBERALS AND THE LAZY POOR ,,THAT IS THE PROBLEMS IN THIS COUNTRY!! While then they fatten their wallets and actually get the ''sheeple'' to vote against their own best interest,,and vote for the Republicans!! The last eight years was ALL Republicans and ALL Power from the Republican side,,and look at America,,and what we have become.. The War in Iraq is the perfect example,, started for Power and Profit..the reasons for which keep changing as each one proves to be flawed.. As far as drilling for new oil,,it will be five years to even bring new oil on line,,and there isn't enough here to really effect anything.. The Blame for all of this lies squarely on the shoulders of Republicans,, Big Business,,and the Lobbyist whom they employ which has bought and paid for our government !! And We the Sheeple which allowed it to happen.. Now ,,we can enjoy the fruits of our labors..Unless you still want to blame the poor and the LEFT LIBERALS !! SOLOMONWith our refineries running near capacity or at capacity, what does drilling for more oil accomplish?
#1. It doesn't hurt. Oil drilling is now safe and clean to the environment thanks to American Ingenuity.





#2. If you are like me, you believe removing the ban will cause a panic in the Oil Futures market which will have everyone selling oil dropping the price immediately.





#3. It will give US Oil companies and the US in general some diplomacy leverage which we do not have now.





#4. 95% of all the world's oil is Government owned/run. Since the US will only allow private company drilling, it should do some (although very little) balancing of the Oil market. Competition is good.
Don't be sucked in by every thing you hear, if more oil is brought in for refining it will be refined. These refineries are not at 100% capacity, even if they tell you otherwise.





The first order is to relieve the supply and demand issue. This can only be done with more oil being pumped. The refineries will keep up if that truly is an issue !
The truth is that in the mid 1980's Reagan stopped enforcing the Sherman anti-trust Act allowing big oil companies to buy small ones and close them down. They shut down their refineries and created an artificial shortage raising prices. There were 305 refineries in 1985 and there are 78 now and none were closed due to environmental regulations.





We need to start enforcing the law, break up the monopolies and investigate and prosecute oil company collusion.
You best knowledge is lacking somewhat. (see link) But you're right in one respect. We need to build more refineries. And drill more. And build nuclear plants. And cover the deserts with solar panels. And throw up a windmill wherever there's a breeze. We should not let ourselves be limited.





BTW. I'd love a refinery in my neighborhood. Good jobs, robust economy.
U.S. oil refining capacity has increased at the rate of one new refinery each year, simply by expanding existing refineries. This has been going on for over a decade. If we end up with excess refining capacity, then they'll just tie up the pipelines to keep the prices up.
they are not going to find any major oil fields and what they get from drilling will be a drop in the bucket compared to the world and our own needs. if i knew they were making a major push to alternate sources and needed this last bit to get us by during the transition period i'd say go for it.
Busses in urban areas should be replaced with Electric vehicles like we have for golf courses or estates. These EVs seem to work pretty well and I think the government should encourage people to develop the technology further instead of licensing more and more gas guzzling vehicles.
More of a commodity on the market tends to lower the price.. Supply and demand.








BTW there is a new refinery in the works..





http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/fi鈥?/a>
republicans are grasping at straws -they do not do research and are politically blind -unless something drastic happens to them of coarse - How about putting a refinery in their neighborhood -I think that they might get it then.


Obama-08
Flood the market with oil and the speculators will have to stop bidding so high. Have so much oil ready for market that you can't give it away.
don't worry


india has a giantic new oil refinery coming online soon





another middleman to increase your cost of gas





hugs!
With additional oil drilling comes additional refineries. You can't have one without the other. If the thumbs up is given to drill, then the thumbs up must be given first to build refineries.


And the blame must go to environmentalist for standing in the way of progress. I will admit, we do need the environmentalist movement, but not to give them a blank check to decide policies of this magnitude.
Oil companies have kept capacity low to drive up the price. They not only kept it low by not building new refineries, but they bought out many independent and small refiners and shut them down in order to do away with the competition. The fact is that they need permits regularly to update and maintain their current refineries anyway, and the oil companies have no problem with that. Look at the requirements for yourself, not a big jump from what is required to update one and build a whole new one. This is about controlling supply in order to keep prices up and nothing more. Neocons like to talk as if they're economic experts while they ignore this basic manipulation of markets that has been going on since there were markets to manipulate. Oldest trick in the book-have a monopoly on supply and production, keep it limited, keep prices high. When oil was dropping closer to $10-$20 a barrel several years ago, this is what kept them afloat, their ability to limit refining capacity.