California refineries – California Globe

Why Gas Prices Are So High in California

September 12, 2026 10:29 amSeptember 14, 2026 7:55 am

While national crude prices set the floor, California’s taxes, climate rules, unique fuel special blend, and diminished refining system raise the price per gallon. California gas is expensive for two overlapping reasons: it is structurally more costly than in most...

Comments on the Western Gateway Pipeline Benefitting California, Arizona

August 17, 2026 10:40 amAugust 17, 2026 12:03 pm

The Western Gateway Pipeline Project is an exciting and much-needed energy project for Arizona and California. California has no east-to-west crude oil or finished fuel product pipelines entering the state, and it has never had any. America builds the most...

California Gasoline Supply Outlook: A Disaster in the Making

April 15, 2026 8:00 amApril 15, 2026 8:02 am

by Michael Mische, James Rector and Joseph Silvi California’s gasoline market is entering a period of acute supply shortages directly attributable to prior refinery closures, and the long-term systemic decline in in-state crude oil production which have been further exacerbated...

Sacramento’s Idea of a Transition

March 19, 2026 1:12 pmMarch 19, 2026 1:16 pm

In 1991, California had more than forty refineries. By the end of 2026, it will have fewer than eleven. Of those, only five are large enough to matter. Phillips 66 shuttered its 147,000-barrel-per-day Los Angeles refinery in December. Valero’s Benicia...

$5 to $6 Gas Is No Accident: California Drivers Are Paying for Political Decisions

March 11, 2026 1:34 pmMarch 11, 2026 1:34 pm

California drivers are getting hammered again, and it is not an accident. Across the state, families are staring at gas prices above $5 a gallon, while the national average sits near $3.32. In parts of Los Angeles and the Bay...

Ringside: Is Biodiesel Sustainable?

October 9, 2025 2:55 amOctober 9, 2025 2:56 am

For the most part, California’s farmers grow food, not fuel. But the fuel required to operate farm equipment is diesel fuel, increasingly refined from food grown on America’s great plains. Digging into this reveals a rabbit hole of such depth...

U.S. and California Gasoline Prices…Why the Recent Decline?

July 22, 2025 2:33 amJuly 22, 2025 2:34 am

On July 21, 2025, the price of gasoline in California was 42.2% higher than the national average, 40.7% higher than Arizona, 20% higher than Nevada, 46.86% higher than Florida, and a whopping 63.12% higher than Texas. California has the highest...