Oil industry: No hurry to bump output

WASHINGTON
“A surplus of supply is not good for the industry,” Shell Oil Co. president John Hofmeister said Friday.

“Just as a surplus of demand is not good for industry. We strive for balance.”

Hofmeister, speaking by phone, said “we will continue to work as an industry to increase supplies to the American people.” But he said Shell executives were still debating whether it makes economic sense to expand the capacity of refineries it owns jointly with Saudi Refining Inc.

AP