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Refinery closures increase uncertainty about California’s fuel future
The Hill ^ | 5/03/25 | Sharon Udasin

Posted on 05/03/2025 3:49:59 AM PDT by Libloather

Multiple refineries in California have recently declared their intentions to shutter operations, leaving the Golden State uncertain about future fuel supplies and impacts on prices at the pump.

Valero Energy Corp. was the latest to make such an announcement, alerting the California Energy Commission (CEC) last month that it would “idle, restructure or cease refining operations” at its Benicia refinery by the end of April 2026.

The Valero notice followed similar news at Phillips 66 in October, when that company said it would be ceasing operations at its Los Angeles-area refinery in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Firms are attributing these decisions to the restrictive regulatory environment in California, which is home to the nation’s biggest car market, despite an unparalleled clean energy push.

“We know that California gasoline consumption is going to decline over time,” Severin Borenstein, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, told The Hill.

“We are going to have exit, and we need to figure out — how are we going to handle that exit?” Borenstein continued.

Following Valero’s announcement that it would be reducing or closing operations at Benicia, in the northern San Francisco Bay Area, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) reportedly sent a letter to the CEC, directing the regulators to guarantee reliable fuel supplies.

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Local News; Outdoors; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: california; econuts; energy; fuel; future; refineries; refinery; regulations
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Screw fuel. The radicals need electricity. And lots of it. Plenty of batteries to recharge.
1 posted on 05/03/2025 3:49:59 AM PDT by Libloather
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To: Libloather

Screw California. Let the dems explain to their voters why there are gas shortages. I suggest the oil companies stop doing business at all in California.


2 posted on 05/03/2025 4:07:59 AM PDT by gunnut
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To: Libloather
I'm certain Californication performed an impossible physical act.
They actually screwed themselves.
3 posted on 05/03/2025 4:08:32 AM PDT by philman_36 (Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty and supped with infamy. Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Libloather
Because of the dimocraps and their drug cartels the west coast will soon become just another third world country in a world full of crap holes.

The rest of the U.S. will need to fight tooth and nail in local and state governments just to maintain a bare semblance of law and order. We can see what's happening now in our courts across this nation.

The future does NOT look good for the people of America unless we really get serious with the crooks in our government and the narcotics industry..

4 posted on 05/03/2025 4:21:58 AM PDT by unread (I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the REPUBLIC..!)
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To: philman_36

Go Green!
And pay the consequences.
Happy now idiots?

Just don’t go looking for a bailout from common sense states and their people.


5 posted on 05/03/2025 4:28:44 AM PDT by Donbue
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To: Libloather

i actually wrote doug lamalfa yesterday complaining that California gasoline being twice as expensive as every other American state was obscene , pleading with him to get sac to bring our prices in line with a national average by eliminating regulations and state taxes.


6 posted on 05/03/2025 4:36:11 AM PDT by cuz1961
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To: Libloather
“Uncertainty”? What a joke. California is CERTAIN to have fuel shortages, $10/gallon gasoline, and long lines at the few remaining gas stations.
7 posted on 05/03/2025 4:47:10 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“Diversity is our Strength” just doesn’t carry the same message as “Death from Above”)
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To: Libloather

1. Newsom sez “Close all the refineries.”
2. Newsom sez “CEC, you better make sure we have reliable fuel supply!”


8 posted on 05/03/2025 4:49:10 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“Diversity is our Strength” just doesn’t carry the same message as “Death from Above”)
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To: Libloather

Yikes!

AZ gets half its gas from CA via pipeline from Long Beach. We do not have any refineries. No one’s tried to build one here for 30 years due to the environmental BS. We are very sensitive to any CA disruptions. Maybe Trump will help.


9 posted on 05/03/2025 4:56:32 AM PDT by Az Joe (uired to.)
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To: Libloather

At least they have them. Just found out this week that Florida stupidly doesn’t have a single one.


10 posted on 05/03/2025 5:16:57 AM PDT by napscoordinator (DeSantis is a beast! Florida is the freest state in the country! )
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To: Libloather

Unfortunately, we in AZ (especially Phoenix) and NV are innocent victims of CA stupidity.
We do not have refineries on our own, but getting all out gas from California.
AZ has one of the lowest gas taxes, but our gas is quite expensive, all because it comes from CA.
Time to build a pipeline from TX!


11 posted on 05/03/2025 5:25:48 AM PDT by AZJeep (sane )
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To: gunnut

“..I suggest the oil companies stop doing business at all in California....”

^THIS^ would certainly get the “unwashed masses” attention.
Maybe they’d wake up and dump the communists that have enslaved em...


12 posted on 05/03/2025 5:45:16 AM PDT by lgjhn23 ("On the 8th day, Satan created the progressive liberal to destroy all the good that God created...")
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To: AZJeep

“Unfortunately, we in AZ (especially Phoenix) and NV are innocent victims of CA stupidity.
We do not have refineries on our own, but getting all out gas from California.
AZ has one of the lowest gas taxes, but our gas is quite expensive, all because it comes from CA.
Time to build a pipeline from TX!”

We get some reprieve on that. I am also in Az and was in the industry for years. The Northern CALNEV line is terminated in Nevada and dependent on Ca. But the Southern line also comes from El Paso Texas through Tuscon to Phoenix. So we are not going to be completely cut off but it is going to cost more to transport from the Southern line to the Northern parts of the State if the CALNEV is shut down.

But the reality is we are already doing that now. I used to come to work and get on the phone to shop prices to see which rack and shipper I was going to order from for my next delivery. In the whole of it 50% of the time I ordered from Vegas and the other 50% of the time from Phoenix because the prices “delivered” were indeed competitive within five to ten cents.


13 posted on 05/03/2025 5:52:34 AM PDT by Openurmind
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To: Libloather

Kalifornians face fuel uncertainity...lol


14 posted on 05/03/2025 5:56:38 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: AZJeep
One solution would be the construction of a tanker port and refinery on the Gulf of California in the Mexican state of Sonora. A pipeline into Arizona and Nevada could be constructed. The current Mexican President appears to be far more pragmatic than the leftist ideologues running Canada. As long as Trump is in the White House, there should be no problem getting the environmental clearances.
15 posted on 05/03/2025 6:09:24 AM PDT by Wallace T.
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To: gunnut

Gas and also ammo companies. And gun companies. This is how you want to live; enjoy.


16 posted on 05/03/2025 6:13:03 AM PDT by coloradan (They're not the mainstream media, they're the gaslight media. It's what they do. )
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To: Wallace T.

Is it out of the question for AZ and/or NV to build their own refineries? While no one here will argue against the idiocy of California’s energy policies, being and remaining dependent on California for one’s petroleum needs also seems stupid.


17 posted on 05/03/2025 6:23:56 AM PDT by coloradan (They're not the mainstream media, they're the gaslight media. It's what they do. )
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To: coloradan

Neither state produces much oil or natural gas. Even if you had a refinery in NV or AZ, the product would have to come from somewhere else.


18 posted on 05/03/2025 6:33:19 AM PDT by Wallace T.
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To: Libloather

Ain’t Communism wonderful.


19 posted on 05/03/2025 6:50:42 AM PDT by bray (It's not racist to be racist against races the DNC hates.)
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To: Libloather
...Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) reportedly sent a letter to the CEC, directing the regulators to guarantee reliable fuel supplies.

This is Newsom's admission that he pushed too hard on the Green agenda. I can't wait until hundreds of thousands of non-EVs pull up to gas stations with no fuel to sell. Newsom: This is your FAFO moment!

20 posted on 05/03/2025 6:53:01 AM PDT by econjack
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