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What Happens When a California Oil Refinery Shuts Down? (yahoo.com)

(Saturday October 19, 2024 @11:34PM (EditorDavid) from the oil's-well-that-ends-well dept.)


A California oil refinery that produces 8% of the state's gasoline is shutting down late next year — a decision the Los Angeles Times says is "driven [1]by climate change, the transition to electric vehicles and demands for cleaner air."

> "There's no question we are going to lose refineries over time, because demand is going to go down as we transition to electric vehicles, but I did not expect to see any of them exiting this quickly," said Severin Borenstein, faculty director of the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. California "over the medium term" will have to rely more on imports, he said. "I think part of the response the state's going to need to consider is how to make sure that we can import sufficient gasoline to meet our needs...."

>

> David Hackett, chairman of Stillwater Associates, an Irvine oil consultancy, said he was contacted by Phillips just before the announcement, and was told the closure was a business decision. He said that although the timing was somewhat surprising, the closure wasn't, given the age of the refineries, their relatively small size and the inefficient layout that connects them by a pipeline. "That plant has been for sale for years. It hasn't found any buyers and I think that this has been an economic decision on their part. They looked at the profitability of the place and compared it with the other businesses that they have, and it didn't make the cut," he said.

"The closure is likely to increase California's already high prices at the gas pump, given that much of the replacement gasoline will be shipped in by ocean vessel, analysts say..." according to [2]another article from the Los Angeles Times .

"Environmentalists and community activists cheered the news, however, saying it will mean cleaner air for the thousands who live in the area and that the state must continue the transition away from its dependence on fossil fuels."



[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/phillips-66-shut-historic-wilmington-223056186.html

[2] https://www.yahoo.com/news/another-refinery-shuts-down-california-100044765.html



No way (Score:1)

by saloomy ( 2817221 )

This has anything to do with the new law Newsom just signed that the refinery cited as the cause. No way.

The refinery explicitly said that was not. (Score:2)

by Nicholas Schumacher ( 21495 )

The article explicitly said that the refinery claimed the new law was not the cause of the closing...

I'm Going To Quit Dope (Score:2)

by sound+vision ( 884283 )

"There's no question we are going to lose refineries over time... but I did not expect to see any of them exiting this quickly"

I hear - "I'm going to quit dope, but - tomorrow!"

"He expanded his chest to make it totally clear that here
was the sort of man you only dared to cross if you had a
team of Sherpas with you. "