Petroleum Refining Industry Profile

Companies in this industry refine crude oil to produce fuel and other products. Major companies include Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and Valero (all headquartered in the US); BP (the UK); and Royal Dutch Shell (the Netherlands).

Worldwide, the petroleum refining industry processes about 78 million barrels of crude oil each day, including about 11.2 million barrels per day refined in the US, according to the 2022 BP Statistical Review of World Energy. The countries with the largest refining throughput are the US, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. According to Yahoo Finance, Singapore, Mexico, and Spain, are some of the countries with the largest refining capacity.

The US has about 150 petroleum refineries with an annual revenue of about $500 billion. Variations in the price of crude oil can cause revenue to fluctuate significantly.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven by consumption of gas and diesel fuel. The profitability of refineries depends on feedstock prices, efficient operations and the best mixture of products. Although there are significant economies of scale in refinery operations, a small refinery can compete effectively with large ones if it's located in a favorable market area, or if it produces specialty products that are in high demand. The US industry is highly concentrated: the eight largest companies account for about 70% of revenue.

Imports of refined petroleum products account for about 10% of the US Market. Major sources of refined products are Canada, Russia, ...