[jyl]

Such regulatory costs exist in all countries. They are not unique to the US. Obviously there are industrial safety, environmental, permitting, etc laws and regulations in other countries.

My sense is that the level of such costs in Europe is pretty similar to the level in the US, while the level is Asia is lower. I do not have hard data for this, it is just my impression based on looking at a lot of companies' financials.

There are also regulatory "benefits". Things like intellectual property protections, a legal system where contracts are binding, transparency in regulatory enforcement, etc. The US scores quite well there.

On the refinery issue - you know, petroleum refining seems like an awful business to me. Look at the profit margins of the refiners, current and historical, how low they are and how volatile they are. I'm looking at VLO, past ten years which is a complete economic cycle, net margin looks like it averages about 2%. Which is very low. And this is when, you say, existing refineries have a "virtual monopoly". Jeez, a monopolistic industry should have margins better than that. Are companies chomping at the bit to build new refineries, are investors eager to finance them? I definitely have not heard such. So you can't blame the lack of new refineries entirely on regulatory hurdles. Maybe the refining industry needs even less capacity?