Here's the problem with refineries. The
oil companies do not want to build them. A Congressional investigation some years ago, with testimony from major
oil companies, came to the conclusion that
oil companies want the bottleneck at the refinery. They make a lot more money that way and can run at full capacity.
There is also another issue that is rarely brought up. Sweet light crude. All but 2 refineries in the U.S. use sweet light crude for our gasoline, which is the most expensive version of crude oil. They can build refineries that use sour crude, but the cost for the refinery is a fair amount more even though the price of a barrel of oil is now about $15-20 less and there is beginning to be a glut of sour crude on the market, which is actually driving the price down even more.
By the way...the oil we drill in Alaska is not considered sweet light crude (also known as WTI) It is a medium grade of crude with higher sulfur content that is only refined in certain refineries in the U.S.