November 18, 2024--Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--After several years of decline, the U.S. Department of Energy said that a downturn in refinery capacity should help ease the corporate pain from lower refinery margins, though the market may look relatively unchanged next year.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said it expected total U.S. refining capacity to average 17.9 million barrels per day (BBL/d) by the end of next year, about 3% lower than at the start of 2024.