While the Bush administration cites a lack of refineries for energy shortages, internal oil industry documents show that five years ago companies were looking for ways to cut refinery output to boost profits.
It takes about four years to build a large refinery so any substantial additional new capacity from new plants would have had to begin by the mid-1990s, energy experts acknowledge.
Internal documents from some of America's biggest oil companies suggest higher prices at the pump may, in part, be a result of a deliberate strategy to limit domestic gasoline production, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who has been investigating oil prices for two years obtained the documents.
"These documents say point blank, look if you really want to boost your profits, you have to reduce refinery capacity," said Sen. Wyden. "This industry went to great lengths to limit refinery capacity, control markets, restrict supply to boost their profits, increase costs to consumers, and then argue we should relax environmental laws."
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