Post by Shadow on Sept 15, 2005 16:18:00 GMT -5
NEWS.com.au
By Deepa Babington in New York
September 14, 2005
THINK you are upset about high gas prices? Maverick British entrepreneur Richard Branson is so furious he wants to build his own oil refinery.
Like the rest of the airline industry, Mr Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways has been stung by higher jet fuel prices and was forced to raise fuel surcharges for the second time in four months.
Hurricane Katrina sent oil prices soaring to $US70 a barrel because it shut several US Gulf Coast refineries, which turn crude oil into products like diesel, gasoline and jet fuel.
"If we don't start now to get more refineries built then fuel prices could literally rocket to $US100-$US200 (per barrel of oil) and the world economy would come to a grinding halt," Branson said in an interview on financial news network CNBC overnight.
Mr Branson did not say where he wants to put his refinery, but some analysts said he should not look to the US, where no one has built a refinery in 29 years.
"My immediate reaction to that is: Not in the US," said Paul Flemming, oil analyst at Energy Security Analysis Inc. "That's definitely more pie in the sky than anything."
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In the US, getting a permit could involve years of navigating local, state, and federal regulations and protests from environmental and community groups, analysts say.
By Deepa Babington in New York
September 14, 2005
THINK you are upset about high gas prices? Maverick British entrepreneur Richard Branson is so furious he wants to build his own oil refinery.
Like the rest of the airline industry, Mr Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways has been stung by higher jet fuel prices and was forced to raise fuel surcharges for the second time in four months.
Hurricane Katrina sent oil prices soaring to $US70 a barrel because it shut several US Gulf Coast refineries, which turn crude oil into products like diesel, gasoline and jet fuel.
"If we don't start now to get more refineries built then fuel prices could literally rocket to $US100-$US200 (per barrel of oil) and the world economy would come to a grinding halt," Branson said in an interview on financial news network CNBC overnight.
Mr Branson did not say where he wants to put his refinery, but some analysts said he should not look to the US, where no one has built a refinery in 29 years.
"My immediate reaction to that is: Not in the US," said Paul Flemming, oil analyst at Energy Security Analysis Inc. "That's definitely more pie in the sky than anything."
Advertisement:
In the US, getting a permit could involve years of navigating local, state, and federal regulations and protests from environmental and community groups, analysts say.