Chevron’s 285,000-barrel-per-day El Segundo refinery in Southern California was mostly down yesterday after a large fire erupted in a jet fuel production unit, disrupting supply in the Golden State’s isolated energy market.
The El Segundo refinery is the second-largest refinery in California, and Chevron’s second-biggest refinery in the US. The facility supplies a fifth of all motor vehicle fuels and 40 per cent of the jet fuel consumed in southern California.
A fire broke out at the facility’s jet fuel production unit on Thursday evening. No injuries were reported, and all workers at the refinery were accounted for, Chevron spokesperson Allison Cook said in an email. Media reported the blaze had been contained, though it was still burning earlier yesterday.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion at the facility in the suburb of El Segundo, which supplies jet fuel for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), located just north of the refinery.
“There is no known impact to LAX at this time,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said.
The fire broke out in the refinery’s Isomax 7 unit, which converts mid-distillate fuel oil into jet fuel, two sources said.
The reformer and the fluid catalytic cracker were shut, losing over 100,000-bpd gasoline output, a trader said citing Wood Mackenzie.
On the West Coast, traders said the impact to gasoline prices was muted as of yesterday morning as market participants were still assessing the extent of damage to the refinery.
US gasoline futures were up around 0.3pc at $1.86 per gallon as of 10.53am EDT, while crude oil prices were up around 1pc.
The fire is unlikely to have a large impact on the wider oil market, two analysts told Reuters, but California gasoline prices could rise as the state’s fuel market is isolated from other US refining centres in the Midwest and on the Gulf Coast.
If supply is affected, the California market could draw fuel imports from northeast Asia refiners in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, Asian trade sources said. Northeast Asia has sent 90,000 barrels per day of jet fuel to the US West Coast region so far this year versus 112,000 bpd in 2024, Kpler data showed.
“In a region that was already expected to see some tightness in supplies after a refinery shutdown this December, the fire could provide support to basis values in the area and a scramble ahead of the closure,” said StoneX analyst Alex Hodes.
Refiner Phillips 66’s is winding down operations at its 139,000-bpd Los Angeles-area refinery for permanent closure by the end of the year.
“Chevron fire department personnel, including emergency responders from the cities of El Segundo and Manhattan Beach are actively responding to an isolated fire inside the Chevron El Segundo Refinery,” Cook, Chevron’s spokesperson, said yesterday.
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