"Refiners can neglect infrastructure, make too little gasoline, suppress inventories and still haul in record profits,"

Exxon Mobil Rakes in $10 Billion | Nationwide Average Price Falls to $2.94 | By Joe Benton | ConsumerAffairs.Com | July 26, 2007

The worlds largest publicly-owned oil company reported over $10 billion in quarterly profits as higher gasoline prices helped offset a decline in revenue from natural gas.
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Exxon contends that gasoline production in the U.S. is at an all-time high and that the high gasoline prices are the result of high crude prices and record U.S. demand.

Consumer groups complain that the oil industry is deliberately restricting supply of gasoline to drive pump prices up and a consumer watchdog charged that the oil companies are manipulating prices.

"Refiners can neglect infrastructure, make too little gasoline, suppress inventories and still haul in record profits," said Judy Dugan, research director at OilWatchdog.

"Refiners restricted gasoline inventories instead of boosting them over the winter and early spring, then planned long maintenance shutdowns," she said.

"Even this spring's unplanned refinery outages were not just acts of fate. They are directly related to lack of modernization and quality of maintenance on aging equipment." ...