Chevron CEO Mike Wirth has warned that there may never be another oil refinery built in America again due to democrat Joe Biden’s policies.
This from slaynews.com.
Wirth said in a recent interview that government policies are a key reason why the oil industry cannot expand in the United States.
His warning comes as average gas prices continue to rise.
Wirth said during Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions Conference on June 1 when asked about more refining being added in the Gulf of Mexico:
There hasn’t been a refinery built in this country since the 1970s.
I personally don’t believe there will be a new petroleum refinery ever built in this country again.
We’ve seen refineries closed. We’ve seen units come down.
We’ve seen refineries being repurposed to become bio refineries.
And we live in a world where the policy, the stated policy of the U.S. government is to reduce demand for the products that refiners produce.
Continuing further, Wirth said that the federal government’s current policy is to reduce the demand for oil, making it “very hard” in a company “where investments have a payout period of a decade or more.”
According to data released by automotive club AAA, the average price for a gallon of gasoline stands at $5.01 per gallon nationwide, with California leading the way at $6.40 per gallon.
Gas prices were already climbing in 2021 amid higher demand and reduced supply.
Last year, the Biden [Regime] signed several executive orders to limit new oil drilling on federal lands, directing federal agencies to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, and ending construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
The oil supply crunch has been exacerbated by Western sanctions that were imposed on Russia, a major exporter, after its invasion of Ukraine.
In response, the Biden [Regime] has released 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over a 6-month period starting in March.
Wirth told the conference that the oil industry:
[H]as raised our Permian [Basin] production growth outlook to 15 percent this year. The narrative you hear that the industry is not growing production is not true.
We are growing production and our industry is growing production.
Final thought: Conservatism to the rescue, please. Drill baby, drill. A Trump (or a suitable substitute) return will cut a lot of damn red tape and government involvement.
