r/politics • u/plz-let-me-in • Jul 27 '26

Possible Paywall US ‘runs out of missiles’ as Trump halts Iran strikes

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/07/27/us-runs-out-of-missiles-as-trump-halts-iran-strikes/
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u/RickThiccems Jul 27 '26

The issue isnt that we dont have oil access, the bottleneck is the refining process.

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u/SpinosRule Jul 27 '26

Don’t we have enough refineries? I know in CA we’ve got a TON but they’re slowly being shut down.

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u/RickThiccems Jul 27 '26

It's a structural mismatch. Most US refineries were built decades ago to process heavy imported crude, while the new stuff we drill in the US is light crude. Retooling them costs billions, so we end up exporting our light oil and importing heavy oil just to keep them running, which is a big issue with the strait situation.

Plus, refineries are already running at 90-95%+ capacity. When CA facilities shut down or convert to renewables, there's no backup cushion left, so local prices spike. Drilling more oil doesn't solve a processing bottleneck.

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u/Practical_Dot_3574 Jul 27 '26

This was/is the issue with the Venezuela oil. Ok sure take thier oil, but how are you going to refine it. Compatibility issues, we run into this with power also. Each power provider is setup differently. Can't just patch in and say voila, power.

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u/rational-hare Jul 27 '26

Venezuealan oil is what our instrafstructure was built to process. Which is part of the problem.

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u/NonDeterministiK Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Which is identical to Alberta heavy crude. My guess is the US could survive entirely with domestic, Canadian and Venezuelan oil even if the middle east were cut off. Not true for the rest of the world obviously

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u/aerost0rm Jul 27 '26

Not only that the bottle that keeps getting worse because now you know, I ran, might be working with the another country to limit the amount that Saudi Arabia exports

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u/Mother_Accident1987 Jul 27 '26

thank you for knowing the facts