>Do you believe that it would reduce an oil companies costs if it were to build a new refinery? (Including the cost of building it).

In the traditional "capitalist" scheme it wouldn't reduce their "costs" BUT they could make more money by selling more product. That is the general basis for any new capital investment in any business.

But look at what you have there.
By DELIBERATELY keeping supply LOWER than demand they get higher prices without doing anything, so why would they bother!?
Now if someone ELSE were to come along and exploit this situation based on the good old proper "capitalist" idea that I can make money too by selling in the same market to make up some of that excess DEMAND they wouldn't be able to (as I explained in detail in my previous).

There are too few oil companies with too much muscle so they have FULL CONTROL. That is NOT what "capitalism" is all about. They own the whole shebang, from oil production to retail sales. That is not what "capitalism" is all about.

Sure, it makes "business sense" to do exactly what they are doing. What I am telling you is that it is NOT "capitalism" that is at work here. Within the capitalist system the oil companies have made themselves a nice little scheme and yet use the principles of "capitalism" to defend their position.