Los Angeles, CA – The gasoline price spike likely to be sparked by last night’s fire at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo will be exacerbated by the failure of Governor Newsom’s California Energy Commission (CEC) to enact re-supply and minimum inventory regulations in a timely way, Consumer Watchdog said.
In addition, Newsom’s abandonment of the effort to impose a price gouging penalty leaves Californians at the mercy of the four refiners controlling 90% of the gasoline supply, according to the group.
“Californians are left defenseless against gasoline price spikes because there are no rules to force oil refiners to resupply the lost fuel after a refinery outage or to maintain minimum inventories, despite Governor Newsom calling a special session in 2024 to enact resupply and minimum inventory rules,” said Jamie Court, President of Consumer Watchdog. “The Governor signed the law about one year ago, yet his California Energy Commission hasn’t drafted rules and is slow walking the process. If it was urgent enough to call a special session, it should have been urgent enough to fast track the regulation implementing the special session law, ABX2-1. State research has shown that when the days of supply fall below 15 days, that’s when gasoline prices spike and oil refiner profits spike too, but the Newsom Administration’s waffling on oil refiner accountability has left Californians without adequate protections against the price spikes that are likely to ensue from this fire. Developing a simple rule requiring minimum inventories as a cushion for when refineries go down, and requiring resupply obligations when refineries catch on fire, should not have been hard to develop.”
ABX2-1, signed into law on October 14, 2024, authorizes the CEC to require refiners to maintain minimum inventories of fuels and blending components and to have resupply plans during maintenance or production outages.
SBX1-2, signed on March 28, 2023, authorized the California Energy Commission to develop a price gouging penalty in case companies made excessive profits per gallon. The Newsom Administration decided to put the penalty regulation development on hold the Friday before Labor Day.
“The Newsom Administration’s failure to follow through on a price gouging penalty means oil refiners can jack up prices as high as they want in the wake of a refinery outage without penalty,” said Court. “We have lived through this before and if the refiners do it again in the wake of the Chevron fire then that will be on Governor Newsom as much as the oil refiners. This is what happens when the state gets complacent in its duties, consumers are vulnerable at the pump.”
