In consideration of the new records being set for the price of gas, there has been much talk recently about one of the assumed causual factors for this, not enough refining capacity. Pertaining to worldwide; Peak Oil, consensus is strong that we have either reached peak already, or will reach peak oil production sometime within the next decade. Refining facilities cost huge amounts to build, and take a very lengthy time to reach the point of production, once a project is initiated. Worldwide Peak Oil represents the highest production level to be achieved by the world's oil production facilities, at which point a relatively short leveling off period will ensue, followed by a precipitious and inevitable drop off of production. Some graphs show this steep drop occuring around 2012. If the various prognostications about Peak Oil are valid, and worldwide production of oil ( base product used to produce gasoline ) will soon decline dramatically, then is it any supprise that Big Oil is showing no realistic interest in building new refineries. Why should they invest in new refining capacity when the feed product they use for these facilities shows all signs that it will soon be rapidly declining in available. The worldwide demand for oil is increasing dramatically, and yet, in recent years, Big Oil has decreased by half its investment in new field development. Considering the all time record levels of profit Big Oil has been making from thier oil sales, why would they not be investing more, not less, in finding new oil supply. The reality is, new field finds have been declining for the last three decades. We have only seen an increase in worldwide oil production, because new technologies allowed for faster removal of oil from mostly from existing oil fields, and the lion's share from the world's 50 largest oil fields, found decades ago, and over 80 percent of the Elephant fields are in indisputable depletion curves. US Big Oil for around a half century were in a position to develop 85% of the world's oil reserves, and the US produced 100% of its on oil needs. Today, US Big Oil has access to only 15% of the world's reserves, and the US imports over 60% of its oil. The bottom line is, US Big Oil won't be wasting money on building new refinineries, because by the time they came on line, the imminent realities of declinning worldwide oil production ( Peak Oil ), will make the endeavor of building new refineries, non-sensical.
