Phillips 66 closing California refinery

SC Maintenance

SC Maintenance

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Lowcountry South Carolina
Phillips 66 said they will close their refinery near Los Angeles by the end of next year. The refinery is pretty ancient, but produces about 8% of California's fuel. Of course they say they will use alternate sources, but very roughly the USA uses about 20 Million Barrels per day of crude, but can only refine about 18 Mb/d, so the 130K from this refinery will be missed.

I hope the Canadian's or Mexican's build some refineries, since were not.

https://apnews.com/article/californ...66-shut-down-bbea1826c0d5d472273f97ad86b870f8
 
Is the refinery so old it's causing constant maintenance issues? Could Philips 66 not invest to make it have greater output?
 
SC Maintenance said:
Phillips 66 said they will close their refinery near Los Angeles by the end of next year. The refinery is pretty ancient, but produces about 8% of California's fuel. Of course they say they will use alternate sources, but very roughly the USA uses about 20 Million Barrels per day of crude, but can only refine about 18 Mb/d, so the 130K from this refinery will be missed.

I hope the Canadian's or Mexican's build some refineries, since were not.

https://apnews.com/article/californ...66-shut-down-bbea1826c0d5d472273f97ad86b870f8
Click to expand...
Smart move on COP's part, it's probably not worth the investment there. That should boost EV sales in CA a bit and raise the cost of gas. SMH, CA is a beautiful state, but I'm glad I don't live there.
 
97prizm said:
Is the refinery so old it's causing constant maintenance issues? Could Philips 66 not invest to make it have greater output?
Click to expand...
The average age of US refineries is 75 years. We haven't built any new ones in decades. Things haven't changed much, so yes could easily be maintained for continued use. California is suing all the major oil companies including Phillips 66 for "causing climate change", so likely the main reason for leaving.

My question for the prosecutors of said lawsuit. Did they ever drive a ICE car anywhere and also contribute? The state still lets petroleum be sold, so how can they sue the producers of it? Hypocrite much?
 
SC Maintenance said:
The average age of US refineries is 75 years. We haven't built any new ones in decades. Things haven't changed much, so yes could easily be maintained for continued use. California is suing all the major oil companies including Phillips 66 for "causing climate change", so likely the main reason for leaving.

My question for the prosecutors of said lawsuit. Did they ever drive a ICE car anywhere and also contribute? The state still lets petroleum be sold, so how can they sue the producers of it? Hypocrite much?
Click to expand...
Because lawyers.
 
97prizm said:
Is the refinery so old it's causing constant maintenance issues? Could Philips 66 not invest to make it have greater output?
Click to expand...
It seems that P66 has poured money into another site in CA which is working in renewable fuels. Perhaps this refinery is just becoming too expensive to maintain.
 
SC Maintenance said:
The average age of US refineries is 75 years. We haven't built any new ones in decades. Things haven't changed much, so yes could easily be maintained for continued use. California is suing all the major oil companies including Phillips 66 for "causing climate change", so likely the main reason for leaving.

My question for the prosecutors of said lawsuit. Did they ever drive a ICE car anywhere and also contribute? The state still lets petroleum be sold, so how can they sue the producers of it? Hypocrite much?
Click to expand...
Or it's just a business a Profit/loss decision because they are simultaneously investing in renewable fuels in CA while also continuing to operate the SF Bay Area refinery?

I imagine another company will buy the refinery and it'll continue to operate.
 
BMWTurboDzl said:
It seems that P66 has poured money into another site in CA which is working in renewable fuels. Perhaps this refinery is just becoming too expensive to maintain.
Click to expand...
P66 closed another refinery and converted it to biofuels - for which they get a number of tax credits both from state of California and the fed. Much of it is a per gallon tax credit. Its possible that they do the same with this facility although there has been nothing about that said thus far, and I don't know how the credits are capped, or if they are.

There are also other California laws that say the producers need to lower the overall carbon output in their transportation fuels, so in general this is going to be an ongoing issue for other California refiners. If they were going to sell this refinery they likely would just do so - they wouldn't go to the cost and trouble to shut it down first.

Capital flows to wherever its treated best.
 
My neighbor works at the P66 refinery up here. (he has a ~20+ mile or so commute) . He actually works for a contractor unloading tanker cars of..............you guessed it: Tallow and seed oils. Tallow for diesel, seed oils for diesel and jet fuel and kerosene. I don't know how that makes a lot of sense, efficiency/$ wise.
 
Pablo said:
My neighbor works at the P66 refinery up here. (he has a ~20+ mile or so commute) . He actually works for a contractor unloading tanker cars of..............you guessed it: Tallow and seed oils. Tallow for diesel, seed oils for diesel and jet fuel and kerosene. I don't know how that makes a lot of sense, efficiency/$ wise.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the western version of ethanol - where you put more energy in than you get back out. 🤷‍♂️
 
SC Maintenance said:
Phillips 66 said they will close their refinery near Los Angeles by the end of next year. The refinery is pretty ancient, but produces about 8% of California's fuel. Of course they say they will use alternate sources, but very roughly the USA uses about 20 Million Barrels per day of crude, but can only refine about 18 Mb/d, so the 130K from this refinery will be missed.

I hope the Canadian's or Mexican's build some refineries, since were not.

https://apnews.com/article/californ...66-shut-down-bbea1826c0d5d472273f97ad86b870f8
Click to expand...
California is receiving products from the newly built Trans Mountain pipeline expansion which is sent by product tankers from Vancouver, BC. Recently the San Francisco airport received a half million bbls of jet fuel from a product tanker. That jet fuel was refined in Edmonton, Alberta.
 
Last edited:
Pablo said:
My neighbor works at the P66 refinery up here. (he has a ~20+ mile or so commute) . He actually works for a contractor unloading tanker cars of..............you guessed it: Tallow and seed oils. Tallow for diesel, seed oils for diesel and jet fuel and kerosene. I don't know how that makes a lot of sense, efficiency/$ wise.
Click to expand...
Subsidies for sustainable jet fuel is another current booming boondoggle. A local soybean processor in Gilman IL owned by a Brazilian firm a few years ago went from making vegetable oil to biodiesel. Since then they have embarked on a Billion dollar expansion to make more and is now expanding into solar power with over 100 acers dedicated to current and future installations. All subsidized. They just ran a pipeline though the farm fields next to I57 going north. I bet to O'Hare field in Chicago.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/trav...s-chicago-ohare-sustainable-fuel/74606163007/
 
SC Maintenance said:
P66 closed another refinery and converted it to biofuels
Click to expand...
Right. I said that. They have two (SF Bay - oil refinery, Santa Maria - Renewable fuels).

SC Maintenance said:
P66 closed another refinery and converted it to biofuels - for which they get a number of tax credits both from state of California and the fed. Much of it is a per gallon tax credit. Its possible that they do the same with this facility although there has been nothing about that said thus far, and I don't know how the credits are capped, or if they are.

There are also other California laws that say the producers need to lower the overall carbon output in their transportation fuels, so in general this is going to be an ongoing issue for other California refiners. If they were going to sell this refinery they likely would just do so - they wouldn't go to the cost and trouble to shut it down first.

Capital flows to wherever its treated best.
Click to expand...

Well we don't know what sort of maintenance is required so who knows if it was wise to keep it running until they found a buyer. We simply don't know how profitable the site is. Selling the site as a brownfield is going to be expensive because the required remediation, but who knows what they'll do with it.
 
BMWTurboDzl said:
Right. I said that. They have two (SF Bay - oil refinery, Santa Maria - Renewable fuels).



Well we don't know what sort of maintenance is required so who knows if it was wise to keep it running until they found a buyer. We simply don't know how profitable the site is. Selling the site as a brownfield is going to be expensive because the required remediation, but who knows what they'll do with it.
Click to expand...
Carson/Wilmington would be pretty attractive to a developer if the remediation would be approved.
 
Pablo said:
Where do the Ferndale WA P66 products go?
Click to expand...
" The refinery produces a high percentage of transportation fuels. Other products produced include residual fuel oil, which is supplied to the northwest marine bunker fuel market. Most of the refined petroleum products are distributed to customers in the northwest United States by pipeline and barge."


https://www.phillips66.com/refining/ferndale-refinery/
 
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