Why does refining capacity in the United States affect world crude oil prices?
Saturday, February 14th, 2009
pawn_takes_king asked:
I have seen this several times already in media reports. They claim that limited refining capacity is partially to blame for increased (crude) oil prices. I can understand that refining capacity would affect prices at the pump, but how is it that it affects world crude oil prices? It would seem that limited refining capacity that would cause limited supplies at the gas pump which would result in less crude oil being used, thus causing higher crude oil supplies. If other countries do not have as limited a refining capacity, wouldn’t it make sense that they would have lower prices at their pumps (all else being equal)?
pjallittle, if I understand you correctly, you are saying that the US market is so large, that when the refining capacity goes down, OPEC and other producers react by limiting supply. Even if producers could instantly change their production, this would result in the price of crude remaining the roughly the same. However, instead it used as reason for higher crude oil prices. In other words, if what you are saying is true, the opposite would also apply. So, if refining capacity magically increases in the US, the price of crude oil falls even if demand for crude oil increases? This also does not make sense to me.
Brenda
I have seen this several times already in media reports. They claim that limited refining capacity is partially to blame for increased (crude) oil prices. I can understand that refining capacity would affect prices at the pump, but how is it that it affects world crude oil prices? It would seem that limited refining capacity that would cause limited supplies at the gas pump which would result in less crude oil being used, thus causing higher crude oil supplies. If other countries do not have as limited a refining capacity, wouldn’t it make sense that they would have lower prices at their pumps (all else being equal)?
pjallittle, if I understand you correctly, you are saying that the US market is so large, that when the refining capacity goes down, OPEC and other producers react by limiting supply. Even if producers could instantly change their production, this would result in the price of crude remaining the roughly the same. However, instead it used as reason for higher crude oil prices. In other words, if what you are saying is true, the opposite would also apply. So, if refining capacity magically increases in the US, the price of crude oil falls even if demand for crude oil increases? This also does not make sense to me.
Brenda
