Harvey’s lessons for America’s stretched energy infrastructure
The hurricane’s hitting the Gulf Coast of Texas highlights how the US now relies on fewer refineries, run closer to their limits, to turn crude into fuel and get it to consumers
For more than 40 years, the US has worried about the security of its oil supply. Hurricane Harvey is another reminder that the infrastructure that processes and delivers oil is in many ways more important. After the Arab oil embargo, the US began filling its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which holds enough oil to offset 94 days of imports, according to the Energy Department. Yet it is a case of the generals fighting the last war. The US imports about 25% less oil than it did a decade ago and exports over a million barrels a day, up from virtually nothing. Harvey’s hitting the Gulf Coast of Texas highlighted another potentially significant change. The US relies on fewer facilities, run closer to their physical limits, to turn that crude into fuel and get it to consumers. The US has 141 operable oil refineries today, which is 79 fewer than 30 years ago. Those refineries have nearly 30% more capacity and are used much more heavily, about 90% on average over the past 12 months. The heavi...
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