US oil is light crude but only around 30% of refineries refine it. The rest refine heavy crude mostly from the ME and Canada. Venezuela also produces mostly heavy crude.

They don’t want to invest in the infrastructure.

It’s as much profits as it is ability to produce. All the tier one stuff is about tapped out. Wells decline by X percent per year which mean we have to drill new wells just to keep the production curve flat, let alone make it rise. There is a lack of drilling equipment designed to reach the less accessible stuff. There is a lack of drilling manpower to power the equipment. It’s as much to do with profitability as it is ability to chase it.

Because the goal isn’t to reduce the prices for the common person. It’s to keep the common person desperate to keep their job and keep them struggling.