Oil Industry Refines Strategy

Soon after Holly Corp. finished expanding its oil refinery here a year ago, the company’s engineers realized they could push their limits even further than planned.

By next summer, five years of incremental upgrades to the refinery’s vast complex of pipes, boilers and storage tanks will have stretched its ability to produce gasoline and other fuels by more than 40 percent.

Such expansions and efficiency gains are among the few forces propelling the industry today as it tries to keep up with consumers’ seemingly endless appetite for fuel.

The result has been an increasingly fragile oil and gasoline market
The Dallas Morning News via Times Argus