Summary: While the number of refineries has been substantially reduced over the past 25 years (and no new refineries have been built), aggregate refining capacity has increased and refineries have operated practically “full out”. Source EIA (Energy Information Administration)
In 2008, there are half the number of operating refinerie in the US as there were in the early 1980s … mostly due to the retirement of outdated facilities that couldn’t be economically reengineered to meet increasingly strict environmental regulations.
Refinining capacity has increased from under 16 million barrels per day (mbpd) in the mid-1990s to over 17.5 mbpd in 2008 — an increase of more than 10%.
US oil refineries are consistently operated at utilization levels above 80% of “operable capacity” … which is generally considered to be the practical “full out”, given normal downtime for repairs and maintenance.



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