But the company also received subsidies from the Energy Department as a domestic refinery.

List of domestic refineries:

Smuggled oil is much cheaper than domestically produced oil, whose price is set artificially high by the Government, and illegal sales have severely hurt domestic refineries.

Libya has five domestic refineries:

Market prices have gone down so deeply it's just not economical to supply to domestic refineries.

Republican leaders said they would shift the focus of their attack to the administration's efforts to persuade domestic refineries and oil-producing countries to increase production.

In its most recent report on gasoline supplies, the Energy Department said inventories were rising at domestic refineries at the end of September.

Since 1981, the number of domestic refineries has fallen to 149, from 321, they said, and none has been built since 1976.

Sutorminskneft is owed 60 billion rubles (about $52 million) by domestic refineries and other customers who do not have the cash to pay for the oil they buy.

In the last year there have been disastrous domestic refinery and mining accidents, not to mention failures of levees and emergency services.