Trump's Big Oil Witch Hunt, $58 Cracks Spike & California's Refinery Graveyard | BDE 07.03.26

Gasoline creeps past four bucks and everyone reaches for the same villain, but the real story lives in the refining margin, not the gas station down the street. Arjun Murti of Veriten joins Mark Meyer for a holiday-weekend conversation on why big oil doesn't set your pump price, how refining flipped from the worst business in energy to the best, what California's shrinking refinery count really signals, and the Lee Raymond mindset that still shapes how smart operators ride the cycle.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 Welcome and Arjun's background02:55 Remembering Lee Raymond10:09 Trump, gas prices, and the price gouging myth18:17 When energy policy actually got it right24:09 How refining went from worst business to best28:21 Barriers to entry and the safety tightrope32:47 California's refining wall36:01 The Jones Act and shipbuilding38:09 Environmental policy vs climate crisis43:22 Ethanol, RINs, and ag politics46:35 Capitalism, shale, and the LNG boom49:45 What comes next for the upstream53:40 Oil prices and the Big Tech double standard57:48 Adapting to 2026 and the road aheadhttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai