Future Of The Oil Refiners, Distributors And Retailers As US Moves Away From Oil

As The US government pushes the country to use less oil, the oil industry will disinvest and simultaneously attempt to protect its existing profits and margins, as any business would do.

There is an interesting, well thought out post on the predictable economic future and response of oil refiners, oil distributors, gasoline stations and other oil retailers, "Another Big Win For Energy Economics 101: Demand Destruction Isn’t Good For New Investment" on The Sunshine Report Blog by Mark Sunshine.

From the Sunshine Report blog:

As gasoline demand drops refineries won’t be the only businesses whose investments are underperforming. There is going to be a lot of excess distribution and retailing capacity. So far the Wall Street Journal has only reported on excess refinery capacity. Distribution and retailing are the next segments of the industry that will experience overcapacity and the end of its “golden era” (to the extent that there ever was a golden era). That means that the U.S. will have too many tank farms, too many truckers that move refined products and too many gas stations that sell gasoline and diesel to consumers.

Read the entire blog posting here.