Capacity:
An oil refineries' capacity is the efficiency at which the refinery processes. It is the productivity of the refinery measured in the barrels/day that the refinery processes. Refineries are typically operated as close to 100% full capacity as possible due to the high demand and expensive cost of operating a refinery, but 100% capacity is unrealistic. As seen in the table below, the average capacity of refineries in the U.S. is in the upper 80%. This is due to the fact that gas prices are currently decreasing, which means less profit for the refineries. Since, the refineries are making less of a profit, it would be inefficient for them to spend money running at 100% capacity.
A typical refinery that costs 3.7 billion dollars and processes 150,000 barrels per day would have to operate for 13 years straight at 100% capacity at a profit per barrel of $5.29, although the current profit per barrel is below $2. This is why a new refinery has not been built since 1976.
US Top Ten Refinery Capacity
1. EXXONMOBIL REFINING & SUPPLY CO Texas, BAYTOWN 567,000 barrels/day
2. EXXONMOBIL REFINING & SUPPLY CO Louisiana, BATON ROUGE 503,000 barrels/day
3. BP PRODUCTS NORTH AMERICA INC Texas, TEXAS CITY 467,720 barrels/day
4. CITGO PETROLEUM CORP Louisiana, LAKE CHARLES 429,500 barrels/day
5. BP PRODUCTS NORTH AMERICA INC Indiana, WHITING 410,000 barrels/day
6. EXXONMOBIL REFINING & SUPPLY CO Texas, BEAUMONT 348,500 barrels/day
7. SUNOCO INC (R&M) Pennsylvania, PHILADELPHIA 335,000 barrels/day
8. CHEVRON USA INC Mississippi, PASCAGOULA 330,000 barrels/day
9. DEER PARK REFINING LTD Texas, DEER PARK 329,800 barrels/day
10. WRB REFINING LLC Illinois, WOOD RIVER 306,000 barrels/day