Memmel I think the Refinery Utilization question is one that yields some interesting thoughts on where to invest your portfolio petrodollars. While most of the WS types continue to recco the Integrateds I am leaning more towards the pure producers for the reasons you allude to. An increasing tendency towards over capacity in the refining market. Less oil more international refineries... if Econ 101 plays out we should see lower refinery margins as the rule not what the squeeze over the last couple of years has implied. Tempering that would maybe be the age of the U.S. refinery infrastructure but I think there is better than 50/50 odds that refineries will compete aggressively for the remaining oil thus pressuring their margins and disporportionally benefitting the pure producers over the integrateds.

Hey Robert are you getting nervous yet? Your $100 bet looked solid a couple of months ago now...who the heck knows.

IOC's are running our of oil and/or replacing oil with far away ng, eg xom. I have always preferred small US E&P's, particularly ard and gpor.