07/01/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/01/2022 20:10
WASHINGTON - Today, Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi, Tom Malinowski, Sharice Davids, and Abigail Spanberger called on the head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Dr. Joseph DeCarolis, to provide a briefing on the impact of declining global oil refining capacity on rising gas prices. As the Members noted, while current crude oil prices are roughly the same as in March, the average price of gasoline has climbed by 17% in the last three months:
"That disparity between oil prices and gasoline prices, the President argues, is the result of historically high profit margins for refining crude oil into gasoline and other petroleum products. The President's prognosis of rising fuel costs echoes the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) June 2022 Short-Term Energy Outlook, which reported that wholesale prices for petroleum products, such as diesel and gasoline, have increased more than the price of crude oil, and this increasing disparity between gasoline prices and oil prices reflects the rising cost of refining crude oil into petroleum products."
Even as American refineries are operating near a peak utilization rate of 96%, available domestic refining capacity has declined nearly 1 million barrels per day since 2019 due to refinery shutdowns during the pandemic. In response to this state of affairs, the Members requested a briefing on American refining capacity, specifically requesting answers to the following questions:
The letter from the members is available here.
Congressman Krishnamoorthi previously wrote to President Biden, expressing concern about the oil refining shortage, and the Congressman was joined by Congresswomen Spanberger and Davids in introducing a resolution urging the President to use the Defense Production Act to restart idled refineries and bring down gas prices in the near-term without endangering long-term climate goals.