Experts say oil refineries stretched too thin

WASHINGTON


“We may have an emergency this summer,” Deutsche Bank’s lead oil analyst, Paul Sankey, said.

Testifying on a day when the U.S. average gasoline price broke a record, not adjusted for inflation, for a third-consecutive day, experts from government and private sectors said refineries are stretched thin, helping to boost prices. There have been a number of refinery shutdowns, both planned and unplanned, in recent months.

“The U.S. petroleum industry’s infrastructure is unable to cope with increasing demand,” Guy Caruso, administrator of the government Energy Information Administration, told members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “The only pressure-relief valve is price.”

USA Today