With the focus on lofty gasoline prices still fresh on many minds in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and refiners soon looking to transition production from winter to summer blend fuels, I wanted to look back at a topic which recently garnered national interest. Who could forget TV crews broadcasting live as gas lines went on for miles and eerily resembled what was seen here in the States during the 1973 Oil Crisis? This has me thinking President Obama has a chance to make the advancement of fuels a top priority in his second term and that could spell opportunity for investors.

The carnage that Sandy left across many states, including my hometown in New York, should be yet another wake-up call that the lack of refinery capacity in the U.S. is still a major issue that simply won’t go away. Did you know there are currently about 144 operable U.S. refineries, the fewest since at least 1949, which is as far back as Energy Department data goes? Whichever way you slice it, refinery numbers in the U.S. continue a three-decade contraction which means investors must consider the future of fuels. Keep reading →