Refinery Not a Well

From Chris Woodward’s article on OneNewsNow:

John Berlau, senior fellow for finance and access to capital for the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s (CEI) Center for Economic Freedom, says this is not the first time a non-oil business has bought a refinery.

“There have been some farm co-ops [and] private equity firms, but this is a new trend that’s being driven both by high oil prices and also new regulations forcing businesses to come up with strategies to handle rising oil costs,” he explains.

John Berlau (CEI)According to Berlau, those problematic regulations prevent the exploration for more oil. Also, many lawmakers and policy experts argue that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act amounts to overregulation.

“Dodd-Frank prevents manufacturers, airlines [and] others from buying derivatives to hedge oil prices so they don’t have to pass on the higher price to the consumers,” Berlau details.

Regardless, he notes that this is only a refinery, not an oil well, which means “if oil keeps going up, if you keep preventing drilling in American lands, it’s going to be of limited assistance.”