The California refinery crisis is a national security risk for America

California is the 4th largest economy in the world and an "ENERGY ISLAND that is isolated from the other 49 States by the Sierra Mountains. There are no pipelines over those majestic mountains to connect the State to the rest of the country. Thus, California's in-State refineries have been producing ALL the transportation fuels demanded on the California "Energy Island".

• Bunker fuel for the ships servicing three of the busiest Ports in America, located in California.
  • Port of Los Angeleshad more than 1,800 vessel arrivals in 2024, which includes cruise and merchant ships.
  • Port of Long Beachhandled over 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.
• Jet fuel: California has over 2,400 airports and aviation facilities, including 9 international airports and 30 major military airports. The demand is 13 million gallons of aviation fuel daily. Several of those airports have direct pipelines to local refineries. In 2019, California consumed 16.7% of the national total of jet fuel, making it the largest consumer of jet fuel in America.
• 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 the second largest transportation fuel used in California, consuming 10 million gallons a day of diesel to support the state's trucking of products from 3 of the busiest shipping ports in America

California's regulatory environment has created a refining capacity vacuum that global markets are rushing to fill, as regional policy decisions are creating international market opportunities and reshaping geopolitical energy dynamics.

Liquid transportation fuels remain essential for sectors that are difficult to electrify. Aviation still depends on jet fuel, global shipping requires bunker fuel, heavy transport, construction, and the petrochemical industry continues to rely on refined petroleum products. Diesel and jet fuel, and petrochemical feedstocks, will remain crucial for decades, even with reduced demand for gasoline from electric vehicles. If local refining capacity decreases in California while demand persists, markets will respond by seeking transportation fuels elsewhere.

It must be remembered that crude oil, by itself, is useless black tar unless you build a multi-billion-dollar refinery to break it down to produce various types of transportation fuels, and oil derivatives that are the basis of virtually all the products in our materialistic world.

California's environmental regulations and aging infrastructure are inadvertently triggering a worldwide refinery construction boom. There will be economic consequences for California consumers as domestic refining capacity shrinks and import dependence grows. The paradox of California's environmental policies and California's emissions reductions may be increasing the global carbon footprints through longer supply chains.

In the future, 181 new refinery units that are planned or announced in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East will be providing transportation fuels to California's 9 international airports, 30 major military airports, and 3 of the largest shipping ports.

These modern refineries in other countries are designed to operate on a massive scale, process multiple types of crude oil, and export transportation fuels worldwide. Tanker transport allows refined transportation fuels to reach major consumption centers, including ports such as the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach, and the Port of Oakland.

As California's refining capacity continues to decline, the California transportation fuel demands for its shipping ports, airports, cars and trucks are among the highest in the nation and will be increasingly imported from refineries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

California, the 4^th largest economy in the world, with growing dependence on transportation fuels made from refined crude oil at foreign refineries will be a national security risk for the entire country.

California has closed 2 refineries, and more closures are on the way as the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is tightening up the regulations on emissions that may drive the remaining 6 refineries in the State to EXIT to more business-friendly States.

The 4th largest economy in the world NEEDS new refineries to process crude oil, to be built IN CALIFORNIA.