Petroleum Refineries NAICS 324110

Jan 27, 2026 - Venezuelan Crude Appeals to US Refineries

• Petroleum refineries, especially the large, complex facilities along the US Gulf Coast, stand to benefit significantly if Venezuelan heavy crude returns to the US market, The Guardian reports. That’s because they were originally designed to process dense, high‑sulfur crude like Venezuela’s, and many still rely on imported heavy oil despite the boom in domestic shale. Access to discounted Venezuelan barrels would improve refinery margins, reduce dependence on higher‑cost Canadian imports, and increase utilization of coking and upgrading units built specifically for heavy crude. A renewed supply stream could also strengthen the broader refining ecosystem. However, the upside is constrained by Venezuela’s degraded production capacity: restoring output to historic levels would require more than a decade of investment and over $180 billion in capital.
• The latest Current Policies Scenario from the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that global demand for oil and natural gas won’t peak this decade, but instead will continue to rise through 2050 under existing policy settings, The Wall Street Journal reports. For refineries this signals a sustained flow of crude as energy producers are more likely to continue upstream investment, drilling activity, and infrastructure build-out rather than scaling back operations. Previously, under its so-called peak oil scenario, the IEA had forecast a decline in global demand for oil and gas as countries shifted away from fossil fuels and toward EVs and renewable energy sources, according to WSJ. The IEA’s revised outlook extends the demand window for refining capacity, meaning business plans premised on a rapid fossil-fuel phase-out may need to be revisited.

• The Environmental Protection Agency in September released a sweeping proposal to eliminate the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), the nation’s repository of annual carbon emissions data from more than 8,000 industrial facilities, the AP reports. The program requires refineries, power plants, oil wells and landfills to report their emissions. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, citing President Trump’s anti-climate executive actions, described the GHGRP as unnecessary bureaucracy and estimated that ending the program could save businesses up to $2.4 billion in compliance costs over the next decade. Critics say slashing reporting requirements risks a big increase in emissions. The EPA said that other data-gathering efforts, such as the Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey that tracks fuel use in that sector, will continue. The agency will publish the emissions proposal in the Federal Register and open a 47-day public comment period before finalizing the rule.
• Producer prices for petroleum refineries rose 3.3% in September compared to a year ago, after sinking 27.7% in the previous September-versus-September annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Employment by the industry shrank 2.2% year over year in August, while capacity utilization rose: The US Energy Information Administration reported a steady rise in weekly refinery utilization rates in August 2025, climbing from 90.5% on August 2 to 93.3% by August 30.