Prospects for Cheaper Gasoline Might be Limited

Even if high oil prices ease, prospects for cheaper gasoline, diesel and jet fuel are likely to be limited for at least several years by a growing global problem: a severe crunch in refining capacity.

Previously, the shortage of plants to refine and process crude oil into usable products has been largely a problem for the U.S., by far the world’s largest oil consumer. But growing demand for oil from China, India and other rising powers is aggravating the shortfall in refining and threatening to keep prices elevated for years.

Global demand is expected to grow by nearly two million barrels a day this year — from 82.5 million barrels a day last year — but the world’s capacity to refine and process crude oil is expected to grow by less than half that
Wall Street Journal via Post-Gazette.com