We've all been so knee-deep in political excitement during these closing weeks of the election that I've not had a chance to cover much else. But I have kept an ear to the ground as best I coulda, and something that I snagged up for the headlines section this weekend made me determined to get a post up.

So, earlier this month, I saw a discussion that concerned me about what's going on in California with oil refineries. When this article hit this weekend, I knew I had to make time to write because it's not just CA that Gavin Newsom and his lunatic legislature are potentially dooming.

California may lose two more refineries, would have to rely on gas from abroad

Short on the heels of another major refinery closure, Valero signaled it is considering closing its two California refineries that produce over 14% of the state’s gasoline. Refinery closures already have the state importing 8% of its gasoline supply, which means the state could soon have to significantly increase its imports of refined products such as gasoline, on top of its existing reliance on the Middle East and South America for the majority of its crude oil. 

Valero announced its profit is down significantly due to very low margins from its refinery business, prompting a question during its earning call about its costly California refineries. 

...“When California Governor Gavin Newsom said in 2021 he didn’t see a future for oil in CA, I didn’t know 2024 would be the year he ended it at lightning speed,” said State Assemblymember Joe Patterson, R-Rocklin, on X. “Today,  another refiner said “all options are on table” with refineries here. We can thank Newsom’s legislation.”

So Valero is looking at shuttering its two refineries and announcing it a little more than a week after Phillips 66 announced it was shutting down its 100-year-old refinery near Los Angeles. That oil company has already hired a pair of consultants to redevelop the property.

Oil giant Phillips 66 has hired a pair of developers known for innovative real estate transformations in California to advise on redevelopment plans for its 650-acre Los Angeles Refinery complex, slated to close by the end of next year.https://t.co/xPZjE3SSYM

— CoStar News (@CoStarNews) October 24, 2024

Back at the beginning of August, I wrote a piece about how Chevron, one of the original CA oil pioneers, was pulling up stakes before the end of the year to move its headquarters to Texas and seriously considering reducing, if not closing, its operations in the state because of regulatory and legal pressures and impending local punitive tax initiatives on the ballot.

Newson has been in an all-out war against the fossil fuel industry in his state, and I hope to God he is happy now with accomplishing the near annihilation of it, either through banning drilling outright or driving the companies out of the state entirely.

...In March of last year, the CA legislature bought off on 90% of an anti-industry push by Newsom, passing legislation under the guise of "transparency." The state now decides if oil companies are "making excessive profits."

California lawmakers on Monday approved Gov. Gavin Newsom’s legislation to increase transparency in the oil industry, ending a special session he called last year to penalize excessive profits.

Bold moves, which, under normal circumstances, would probably merit some sort of Al Gore dead polar bear award. But with CA's unique geographical challenges - the impassible Rockies essentially make the state an energy island aggravated by their legislated gasoline formulations and production limits - they are stupidly and dangerously self-defeating.

...When, in fact, most of CA's gas woes are self-inflicted miseries. They have a limited number of refiners available, period.

...Western States Petroleum Assn. argues that prices are higher in California as a result of the state’s policies to limit gasoline production.

California relies on about five main oil refiners to produce gasoline, which means the state is isolated from alternative backup sources, and maintenance issues can reduce supply and cause price spikes.

Sure, genius. Shut down what you have available for your citizens and industry that is still there. No one needs food or to be able to get to work.

Saving the planet and beating back the carbon boogie monster is more important to a cultist than piddling human concerns...or lives.

But climate cultists and green grifters have never been very practical in implementing their schemes and driving these homegrown, home-production oil firms out of CA will be the most beautiful, expensive, and potentially disastrous illustration of their ignorance and hypocrisy.

Where will the fuel now come from when a state has no inbound pipelines and no plans to build any refineries to replace the ones they drove off?

Why, fuel tankers, of course.

But, see, there's a problem. We have very few domestic tankers, none being built, and those already in service work mostly out of the Gulf of Mexico and up the East Coast. They're booked and busy - no time to go the opposite way, through the Panama Canal and then up the coast to deliver oil to CA.

So the climate activists shrieking about carbon footprints who could have continued to have gasoline from right near the CA Coast or the interior of the state will now be paying the freight for boatloads - literally - of it to travel all the way from Asia.

...According to energy shipping specialists Poten & Partners, the refinery shutdown will increase the amount of fuel that California imports from East Asian refiners. Domestic tanker capacity is nearly at full utilization, and there is no orderbook for additional U.S.-built tankers at present, so Poten believes that additional shipments from the Gulf Coast to California are unlikely. Instead, the consultancy suggests, the replacement fuel will likely come from the place with the greatest capacity to produce it at a favorable cost - East Asia.

"We will likely see more imports from longhaul suppliers in Asia to satisfy product demand from California. South Korea is by far California’s largest supplier, but Singapore and India are also regular exporters to the U.S. West Coast. China is another potential supplier of refined products to California," noted Poten. "By the end of 2025 and into 2026, these developments could boost product tanker employment in the Pacific Basin."

Sounds completely efficient, carbon-neutral, and Earth-friendly.

And nothing ever happens to boats transversing thousands of miles of open water.

...A gasoline tanker’s voyage to California from Singapore, another gasoline supplier, would take 30 to 40 days, York said, and supply chain snags — caused by a typhoon, or a war, or a worldwide outbreak of some virus — could add weeks to that lengthy schedule if not disrupting it entirely.

Frickin' fools.

Not to mention, there are pipelines leaving CA that carry the gasoline refined in those now doomed refineries to nearby states that depend on the CA production for their own citizens' fuel needs. The governors of Arizona and Nevada would like to have a word with Gov Randall Flagg-lite about the downside of his big plans and its effect on their residents.

Oh, but wait! There's more.

There are other folks who depend on that Phillipss 66 refinery in Los Angeles for their fuel, and I'm not talking plastic surgeons who need special blends for their Lamborghinis on weekend runs to Napa or La Jolla.

First they closed the massive Red Hill fuel storage facility in Hawaii

Now they are closing the large refinery closest to our most important Naval base

Nobody sees a national security problem here? https://t.co/tCf0A9ou7y

— John Ʌ Konrad V (@johnkonrad) October 19, 2024

Why the long faces?

So where is @POTUS @SecDef @DeptofDefense @US_TRANSCOM @INDOPACOM on this issue.

We close Red Hill Fuel Facility and lose 250M gallons of fuel in Hawaii (something that the Japanese could not do in WWII). We adopt a strategy of distributed fuel logistics, which means small… https://t.co/kc6NwsKDUz

— Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) 🚢⚓🐪🚒🏴‍☠️ (@mercoglianos) October 19, 2024

...We close Red Hill Fuel Facility and lose 250M gallons of fuel in Hawaii (something that the Japanese could not do in WWII).  We adopt a strategy of distributed fuel logistics, which means small depots and putting fuel afloat - but no where near the Red Hill capacity. 

Now, Phillips 66 is removing 140k Bbls of refining capacity offline.  The US @USPacificFleetis dependent on this fuel, as it was in 1941.  It was why the fleet was based in San Pedro and then shifted to Pearl Harbor.   

This means that the US will have to haul fuel from Asia, which it would lose in case of a western Pacific War, or through the Panama Canal on an elongated supply chain without enough US-flagged tankers.  

Logistics wins wars and we don't seem to remember this.  

Our entire military focus for the last few years has been on fighting a war in the Pacific - it is why the Marine Corps has been decimated with all its tanks gone, the idea of island missile teams, etc. (This is a whole 'nuther gruesome story.) - against the Chinese.

Our Navy NOW is going to have to fight the Chinese in the Pacific dependent on fuel FROM THE PACIFIC - perhaps even from the Chinese themselves.

YGTBFKM

That's what this means.

Pollyannas are already brushing off concerns with "there's a new fuel depot in Australia."

The same people who have no idea how BIG the distances are in the Pacific.

Everyone who's in charge lives in unicorn fart or La La Land.

It is terrifying that we are so vulnerable...and the people who did this are so smugly ignorant simultaneously.

It is a moral imperative to reelect a guy who cares about tankers and ships and the Navy and understands logistics.

It's astonishing it only took three and a half years to destroy what he had managed to start rebuilding.