News

AFPM supports the continuous drive to make our U.S. transportation fleet more fuel efficient. In fact, we see the fuel refining and petrochemical industries as critical partners in this effort.

AFPM President and CEO Chet Thompson and API President and CEO Mike Sommers sent a letter to President Biden responding to recent letters the Administration sent to major U.S. fuel refiners suggesting that these companies, their workforces and facilities throughout the country aren’t doing their part to bring fuel to the market and lower energy costs for consumers.

We are surprised and disappointed by the President’s letter. Any suggestion that U.S. refiners are not doing our part to bring stability to the market is false. We would encourage the Administration to look inward to better understand the role their policies and hostile rhetoric have played in the current environment.

To address freight rail concerns, leaders from LyondellBasell and the Surface Transportation Board (STB) held discussions and toured LyondellBasell’s facility in Morris, Illinois. LyondellBasell’s Morris Complex is unique in that it is served by more than one major rail carrier. Nearly 80 percent of U.S. refineries and petrochemical facilities operate in regions served by just one freight rail provider.

The United States has the most complex and efficient refining industry in the world, but we also have less refining capacity than we used to. Where the issue of refining capacity is concerned, it’s important to understand what refining capacity is, why we’ve lost capacity in the United States and how policies can advance the competitiveness of our refineries in the global market.

EPA's 2022 RFS standard is bewildering and contrary to the Administration’s claims to be doing everything in their power to provide relief to consumers. Unachievable mandates will needlessly raise fuel production costs and further threaten the viability of U.S. small refineries, both at the expense of consumers.

AFPM President & CEO Chet Thompson sent a letter House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy expressing AFPM’s opposition to H.R. 7688, the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act.

Safety has always been and will continue to be the top priority of the refining and petrochemical industries — which is why refiners and petrochemical manufacturers are consistently ranked in the top industries for safety, out of more than 500 U.S. manufacturing industries.