Environment & Energy

Another California Refinery Closure Will Threaten Global Economy

By Ronald Stein, P.E.

Published June 18, 2026

This article was first published at America Out Loud News

According to the Energy Information Administration, today, California ranks first in jet fuel demand among the states.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) projects in-state jet fuel demand will rise significantly over the long term, growing from about 271,000 barrels per day (TBD) in 2023 to an estimated 378,000 TBD by 2045. These jet fuel demand rates in barrels per day are the equivalent rates in gallons per day, from 11.3 million gallons per day in 2023 to 15.9 million gallons per day by 2045.

The aviation sector accounts for roughly 16 percent of California’s total crude oil product use.

With no pipelines over the Sierra Mountains, California is an energy island separated from the crude oil supply and the infrastructure of oil refineries within the other 49 states. Thus, California transportation fuel demands for airports, cars, trucks, and the ships serving three of the busiest port terminals in America have staggering numbers made from in-state refineries:
Gasoline: For its 30 million vehicles, California is the second-largest consumer of motor gasoline among the 50 states, consuming 42 million gallons a day of gasoline, just behind Texas.
Diesel: Diesel fuel is used in California, consuming 10 million gallons a day of diesel to support the state’s trucking of products from three of the busiest shipping ports in America.
Fuel for the ships in three of the busiest Ports in America, located in California.
- Port of Los Angeles had more than 1,800 vessel arrivals in 2024, which included cruise and merchant ships.
- Port of Long Beach handled about 9.6 million container units in 2024, indicating a very high volume of ship activity, plus cruise ships.
- Port of Oakland, which also handles significant cargo volumes, contributes to the total number of cruise and merchant ships needing fuel.

California refineries have produced all transportation fuels demanded on the California Energy Island. With two recent refinery closures, Gov. Newsom can’t explain where the transportation fuels will come from to support the daily consumption of 13 million gallons of aviation fuel for nine international airports and 41 military airports.

California is the nation’s largest jet-fuel consumer. Roughly 20 percent of the supply is now imported from refineries located in foreign countries, primarily from India and other Asian refiners (South Korea). Imports have surged alongside two recent California refinery closures. Today, California has only seven operating refineries.

Five major refineries in California produce jet fuel, with the bulk of the state’s supply concentrated in Southern California. The primary refineries providing jet fuel include:

Chevron El Segundo Refinery: Located in El Segundo, this is a massive supplier for the region, producing over 40 percent of Southern California’s jet fuel.
Valero Wilmington Refinery: Located in the Port of Los Angeles area, it processes heavy crudes specifically to blend and produce jet fuel.
PBF Energy Torrance Refinery: Located in Torrance, this facility produces approximately 1.8 billion gallons of transportation fuels annually, including jet fuel.
Marathon Los Angeles Refinery: Located in the Carson/Wilmington area, it is the largest refinery on the West Coast.
Chevron Richmond Refinery. Located in Richmond. With the Valero Benicia refinery offline, the Chevron Refinery now supplies all the jet fuel for Travis Air Force Base and 60 percent of the jet fuel for SFO and other NorCal airports.
When the Chevron El Segundo Refinery went down due to a fire on its North Isomax Unit, it took a lot of jet fuel offline with it. Due to the loss, a tanker had to be dispatched from the Gulf Coast with nearly 500,000 barrels of jet on board. In addition, a significant amount of jet fuel was shipped from Northern California down to Los Angeles.

California’s declining oil production and refinery closures, caused by the state’s energy policies, have created an aviation fuel crisis. California has gone from energy dominance to energy dependence. This dependency on imports from refineries in foreign countries is a direct threat to national security.

Three of the largest ports in America are in California. Los Angeles and Long Beach in Southern California, and Oakland in Northern California. It is important to note that these ports cannot handle large volumes of imported fuel due to infrastructure limitations. This is because California’s in-state refineries were designed to meet California’s fuel requirements. With the current refineries that have shut down and the potential for additional refineries shutting down, both military and our civilian airports are put at extreme risk due to those port infrastructure limitations.

There are approximately 700 to 800 daily direct flights from the rest of the United States to California. If you include outbound flights, cargo, private aircraft, and international arrivals, daily flight operations easily exceed 3,500 to 4,500 statewide.

California has nine primary commercial airports that hold international status, offering global routes or designated U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities for international flights and arrivals.

Here are the nine international airports in California:

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX); San Francisco International Airport (SFO); San Diego International Airport (SAN); San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC); Sacramento International Airport (SMF); Oakland International Airport (OAK); Ontario International Airport (ONT); John Wayne Airport (SNA); Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT).

Several U.S. military installations, including Travis Air Force Base and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, rely almost entirely on California refineries for their jet fuel.

For the 30 military airports in California, there is no singular, exact number of daily flights state-wide for the military because military missions constantly fluctuate, and flight tallies across the state’s airports are highly dynamic.

However, looking at daily activity at major commercial hubs across California provides a clear picture of the state’s flight volume:

Major International Hubs: California’s premier international gateways handle thousands of daily operations. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) leads the state, regularly serving well over 1,500 commercial flights per day, while San Francisco International Airport (SFO) handles around 1,100 to 1,200 daily flights.
Other Commercial International Airports: Facilities like San Diego International (SAN), San Jose (SJC), and Oakland (OAK) handle hundreds of scheduled passenger and cargo flights daily, connecting the state with international destinations like Mexico and Canada.
Military and Joint-Use Airports: California houses numerous military installations (such as Edwards Air Force Base, Naval Air Station Lemoore, and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar). The exact number of flights from these is not publicly released by the Department of Defense.

State regulators adopted a sweeping climate plan to slash carbon dioxide emissions by 85 percent below 1990 levels by 2045. The blueprint includes cutting oil and gas consumption to less than one-tenth of today’s levels, a target that further clouds the investment outlook for refineries already weighing whether to upgrade, convert, or shut down.

California’s current energy posture will see California brought to its knees if another refinery goes offline. If you look at the three most recent refinery fires resulting in refinery downtime, it becomes abundantly clear how vulnerable we truly are.

In the case of Chevron in El Segundo, a thin spot on a furnace tube that was missed during inspection failed.
At PBF in Martinez, a maintenance contractor got on the wrong side of a block valve, opening a flange on the live side of the process, resulting in a huge release and fire.
At Valero, a 30-foot section of a stack on furnace 701 separated and fell to the ground. It landed on the equipment below, causing a major release and fire. This stack is 56-years-old. It was never inspected due to inaccessibility. This is a major problem with all our refineries; they are getting old.

Thus, energy literacy conversations with California policymakers are required, as a closure of just one of the remaining seven operating California refineries would impact national security and the global economy.