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California Faces High Pump Prices As Phillips 66 Shuts LA Refinery
Oil Price ^ | 08/28/2025 | Julianne Geiger

Posted on 08/28/2025 9:04:47 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Phillips 66 will begin shutting down its 139,000 bpd Los Angeles-area refinery as soon as next week , sources told Reuters, moving forward on a closure plan announced last year. Units at the plant will idle in phases through Q4 2025, with the facility permanently offline by year-end.

The decision isn’t a surprise—Phillips 66 said in October it would exit the site, citing “market dynamics.” But it comes with fallout about 600 employees and 300 contractors will lose their jobs by December, with only a handful reassigned to the company’s marine terminal. The company insists it will support workers through the transition, though local officials remain worried about the economic hit. California, meanwhile, is staring at a bigger problem. Between Phillips 66’s LA facility and Valero’s Benicia refinery, scheduled to close in 2026, the state is set to lose roughly 17% of its refining capacity.

That’s a dangerous haircut in a state already paying the nation’s highest pump prices. Analysts warn that by late 2026, California gasoline could top $8 a gallon if supply disruptions collide with fewer in-state refineries. Lawmakers appear caught flat-footed.

California has prided itself on leading the clean energy charge, but the state has no system-wide transition plan to manage a shrinking refinery fleet. Imports will plug some of the gap, but relying on tankers means higher costs and more emissions at the ports. For now, policymakers are scrambling to balance climate ambition with the political pain of $6-plus fuel.

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


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; closure; energy; gas; gavinnewsom; losangeles; newsom; newsomfornia; oil; phillips66; refineries; refinery
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1 posted on 08/28/2025 9:04:47 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Heh.


2 posted on 08/28/2025 9:09:59 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats are the Party of racism, anger, hate and violence.)
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To: SeekAndFind

If the increased fuel cost could be restricted to only CA, it would be a smirk and say “You are getting what you voted for” situation.
But no, NV and other states will also feel the pain , and never had any say whatsoever.


3 posted on 08/28/2025 9:10:40 PM PDT by Ex gun maker. (Free thinking is now a radical concept, I will not be assimilated by PC or EV group-think!)
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To: SeekAndFind

The Democrats are proud of what they did to California. now they wanna do it to the entire nation.


4 posted on 08/28/2025 9:12:50 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I live in the state of Georgia.
Georgia produces no natural gas.
Georgia produces no crude oil.
Georgia has no refineries.
All of our gas and petroleum products are piped in and trucked in.
Even so, gasoline prices hover around and under $3/gallon.


5 posted on 08/28/2025 9:17:04 PM PDT by Repeal The 17th (Get out of the matrix and get a real life.)
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To: SeekAndFind

No Worries!

Solar powered cars that can drive 1,500 miles on a single charge are just around the bend.*

*-In the meantime, enjoy your bicycle and remaining close to home.


6 posted on 08/28/2025 9:19:39 PM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try )
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To: SeekAndFind

I don’t care.


7 posted on 08/28/2025 9:20:04 PM PDT by waterhill (Nobody cares, work harder!)
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To: Ex gun maker.

It will indirectly affect prices of goods throughout the country. More expensive to run farm equipment, more expensive to truck food out of California. Los Angeles and Long Beach are the largest ports in the United States, as measured by container volume - more expensive to move those goods.


8 posted on 08/28/2025 9:21:49 PM PDT by Wayne07
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

9 posted on 08/28/2025 9:25:06 PM PDT by kiryandil (No one in AZ that voted for Trump voted for Gallego )
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To: Wayne07

Affecting interstate commerce. The Feds should stomp on them.


10 posted on 08/28/2025 9:26:37 PM PDT by MileHi ((Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victims, and control freaks.)
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To: SeekAndFind

F around and Forgo Oil. FAFO.

Dear California,

You asked for this.


11 posted on 08/28/2025 9:36:51 PM PDT by coloradan (They're not the mainstream media, they're the gaslight media. It's what they do. )
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To: SeekAndFind

I grew up, worked, and lived close to that refinery.
I still remember the smells.
Wilmington CA.
I now live in Hawaii where it is cost prohibitive
to operate an electric car, because the Democrats
made it so expensive to make electricity.
My costs are $0.55 per kWh.
I know how much Californians need their cars,
I grew up there in the awful traffic.
They voted for it so they suffer with it,
but Battery technology for electric cars isn’t
there yet and it is illegal to Bicycle
on a freeway.
When I was older and I worked and lived there
after my military service, my commute was
80 miles per day, a Corona suburb to LAX.
That is very common.
Are all you CA democrats going to live in
Barracks at your work?
Sounds like a prison camp to me!
Enjoy your choices!
Y’all voted for it!


12 posted on 08/28/2025 9:38:53 PM PDT by rellic (No such thing as a moderate Moslem or Democrat )
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To: SeekAndFind

FAAFO. I am rooting for CA to crash under the crushing weight of Democrat/Liberal policies. 6 million CA residents voted for Trump. If 3 million of these voters moved to Oregon, Colorado, Washington, and New Mexico to the tune of 750,000 voters then these States would go RED and gain NUMEROUS House seats. California would collapse. Maybe then CA would return to sanity.


13 posted on 08/28/2025 9:42:26 PM PDT by LeonardFMason
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To: LeonardFMason

How many ineligible voters put Dems in office? If the voter rolls were really cleaned and the obvious gerrymandering squashed, the state would have some sanity. They believe in the make-believe and as long as the lifetime pension checks keep cashing and the NGO fraud and insane corruption exists, they will not change. It will be force, and political destruction that will move the needle. Teaching kids Communism and oppression are good needs to stop.


14 posted on 08/28/2025 9:45:55 PM PDT by wac3rd
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To: SeekAndFind

In my area the damn indiana refinery is down, again.


15 posted on 08/28/2025 10:01:11 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: SeekAndFind

“Lawmakers appear caught flat-footed.”

Nobody on earth is THAT stupid. Not even California lawmakers.


16 posted on 08/28/2025 10:14:25 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: SeekAndFind

Are they celebrating exorcising their oil demons yet?


17 posted on 08/28/2025 10:16:51 PM PDT by rottweiller_inc (Lupus urbem intravit. Fulminis ictu vultures super turrem exanimat.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well, us in Calif can always take the 33 billion high speed rail to... Uh, nowhere I guess.


18 posted on 08/28/2025 10:23:29 PM PDT by Bullish (My tagline ran off with another man, but it's ok---- I wasn't married to it.)
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We’re so screwed! Thanks for nothing Gavin .


19 posted on 08/28/2025 10:24:25 PM PDT by Bullish (My tagline ran off with another man, but it's ok---- I wasn't married to it.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well gawrsh and golly Gee, making it impossible to do business has some sorta consequences?

Whooda thunkit?


20 posted on 08/28/2025 10:31:27 PM PDT by Don W (When blacks riot, neighborhoods and cities burn. When whites riot, nations and continents burn)
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