Depositphotos
Phillips 66 changed the math
One refinery closure can sound like a business story, until it starts showing up on every gas station sign you pass. That is what Los Angeles drivers are feeling now as the Phillips 66 Los Angeles–area refinery wind-down and idling has reduced local supply flexibility in a market that already had very little breathing room.
Phillips 66 said in October 2024 that the facility was expected to cease operations in the fourth quarter of 2025, and the Los Angeles–area refinery is rated at about 139,000 barrels per day. By late 2025, the company said it was already moving through a phased idling process as crude processing wrapped up.
Depositphotos
Phillips 66 and the price shock
For many people, this story feels personal before it feels political. A normal drive to work, school, or the store suddenly costs more, and that sting hits harder in a city where long commutes are part of daily life.
AAA’s tracker put the Los Angeles Long Beach average for regular at $5.96 on March 27, 2026, while California’s statewide average was about $5.86. A few stations recorded much higher readings, but those were extreme cases, not the statewide norm.
Depositphotos
Phillips 66 leaves a jobs gap
The pain is not only showing up at the pump. It is also affecting workers and families tied to the Phillips 66 facility, where the shutdown has led to layoffs, uncertainty, and a rough transition in communities that depended on those jobs…