Survivorship and scale economies in the US petroleum refining industry

Book · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6599794

Bring, D A

The expansion of once smaller facilities accounts for almost 80% of the capacity increases in the petroleum refining industry between 1948 and 1978. A method for analyzing this phenomenon uses the concept of scale economies and the survivor technique, which place plants (or companies) into categories based on size and then calculates the share of industry capacity contributed by each category over time. The technique uses the principle that competition among different sizes of plants and companies will sift out the more efficient enterprises. The results show a decline in market share for most categories below 500,000 barrels/day, while those over that amount increased market share. The results also show that there were dramatic changes from 1948 to the mid-1960s as companies expanded capacity to realize scale economies, but there was relative stability from then until 1978. 22 references, 13 figures, 13 tables.

• OSTI ID: 6599794
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020400* -- Petroleum-- Processing
020700 -- Petroleum-- Economics
Industrial
& Business Aspects
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
294002 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Petroleum
CAPACITY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
INDUSTRY
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
PETROLEUM REFINERIES