Quote:
Originally Posted by wontondestruction
But is their volume really zero?
The BP Whiting Refinery in northern Indiana shut down the largest of three crude distillation units Saturday for what the company in a statement called "unscheduled repair work."
It looks like they're still producing, albeit at reduced capacity. I think back to the rolling brownouts California had back in 2000-01. Later it was found out that the power stations did have enough power to supply all of California, but they purposely decreased power output, so they could raise the prices.
As for your other point, I don't think people get upset when the price of a hockey ticket goes up for a certain game, or hotel prices go up during a certain season, because demand is high and supply is low. For me at least, it looks like the refineries are purposely decreasing supply to drive up the prices.
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BP had a fire and has a month of repairs on a large unit. A turnaround usually refers to a planned event that requires scheduling of maintainance, usually a year in advance. I gather their smaller crude unit is still running, but trust me, Bo is not better off because of a fire.
Power manipulation in California is not due to a refinery or the oil industry. Enron restricted power supply, I believe by exporting it to choke off California. That's different and a one off versus the hundreds of down turns or turnarounds that are normal and legitimate part of business.
Your last paragraph is a perfect proxy to how the average person thinks. Prices change due to supply and demand changes. Be it for hockey tickets or airline tickets or gasoline. It's all the same. You have to admit you are completely talking out of your a$$, based on zero real experience or specific knowledge of how retail gasoline actually works when you say "it appears to me". puposely reducing supply both a) only hurts yourself and b) in the case of a refinery is pretty easy to detect. What you think you know about this topic and what is actually true is a very far ways apart.
It would be a far more constructive conversation to ask questions like " why does this happen" rather than assume what you do. You'll learn more and it creates a better forum.