Senate Bill (SB) 1322 requires all refiners of gasoline products in the state to provide monthly data about various price and volume information. The California Energy Commission (CEC) must publish aggregated, volume weighted reports of this data, within 45 days of the end of each calendar month.
Specifically, SB 1322 requires the CEC to publish the following information from the refinery operators’ monthly reports:
- A volume weighted gross gasoline refining margin for the state.
- The gross gasoline refining margin for each refinery with two or more refining facilities in the state.
- Volume and price of domestic and imported crude oil.
- The breakdown of five types of sales required to be reported by refiners and associated volumes, prices per gallon, and actual or estimated costs associated with the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and Cap and Trade programs.
SB X1-2, which took effect June 2023, expands the monthly reports to require refinery operators to provide net gasoline refining information. For more information, please visit Senate Bill X1-2 Implementation.
The data below complies with the CEC’s requirements to post the data as reported by the refiners. CEC continues to investigate the reported numbers. Additional findings, recalculations, further analysis, revised data, or other conclusions will be publicized here as we continue to verify the reported data.
Refiner Margin Data
Data last updated: October 18, 2023.
On October 3, 2023, the California Energy Commission published new petroleum market data showing the net gasoline refining information for California refiners. Volume-weighted average California gross refiner margin, net refiner margin, and numbers in the “Aggregated Data Reported” section are all calculated using information obtained from all six refinery companies. Gross and net margins reported by refinery company only reflect information from California refiners with two or more facilities which are Chevron, Valero, PBF, and Phillips 66.
The data show that in August, California refineries produced and sold 950,529,000 gallons of gasoline for a total estimated profit of $228,126,960.*
CEC staff will continue to collect and report refiner information on a monthly basis in order to analyze long-term trends as part of its assessment of setting a maximum gross refining margin and penalty for exceeding that maximum, as allowed by SB X1-2.
* Based on data reported by California refiners. The total profit estimate does not include spot pipeline transaction sales and may be considered a conservative estimate as a result.
| Margin Type | January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross (using data from all six California refining companies) |
$0.66 | $1.03 | $1.03 | $1.01 | $1.09 | $1.19 | $1.14 | $1.29 |
| Net (using data from all six California refining companies) |
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | $0.14 | $0.24 |
| Operating Refinery* | July | August |
|---|---|---|
| Refiner 1 | $0.95 | $1.13 |
| Refiner 2 | $1.21 | $1.40 |
| Refiner 3 | $1.00 | $1.37 |
| Refiner 4 | $1.25 | $1.19 |
* As reported by California refiners with two or more refineries. Order of operating refineries is randomized to protect anonymity.
| Operating Refinery* | July | August |
|---|---|---|
| Refiner 1 | $0.14 | $0.38 |
| Refiner 2 | $0.41 | $0.22 |
| Refiner 3 | $0.15 | $0.56 |
| Refiner 4 | $0.23 | $0.37 |
*As reported by California refiners with two or more refineries. Order of operating refineries is randomized to protect anonymity.
| Product | Volume (Thousand Gallons) |
Price (Dollars per Gallon) |
LCFS (Dollars per Gallon) |
Cap and Trade (Dollars per Gallon) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crude Domestic | 750,876 | $2.05 | N/A | N/A |
| Crude Foreign | 1,264,914 | $2.09 | N/A | N/A |
| Refined Gasoline Purchases | 177,786 | $3.17 | N/A | N/A |
| Unbranded Rack | 355,334 | $3.35 | $0.11 | $0.28 |
| Branded Rack | 61,855 | $3.56 | $0.11 | $0.28 |
| Bulk | 180,863 | $3.31 | N/A | N/A |
| Spot Pipeline | 189,426 | $3.24 | N/A | N/A |
| Dealer Tankwagon | 352,477 | $3.67 | $0.11 | $0.28 |
Senate Bill X1-2
Public Resources Code 25355.
- For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
- “Gross gasoline refining margin” means the difference, expressed in dollars per barrel, between the volume-weighted average price of wholesale gasoline sold by a refiner in the state and the average price of crude oil received by the refinery.
- “Net gasoline refining margin” means the gross gasoline refining margin minus the refinery’s operational costs.
- “Operational costs” means costs, expressed in dollars per barrel, necessarily incurred by the operator of a refinery in the state to produce gasoline meeting California specifications, including, but not limited to, costs of labor, electricity, natural gas, chemicals, maintenance, hydrogen, and other intermediate oil products, federal renewable identification numbers, obligation costs, capital investments, logistics costs, and additive costs.
- Within 30 days of the end of each calendar month, the operator of each refinery operating in the state that produces gasoline meeting California specifications shall submit to the commission a report for the refinery containing all the following information:
- The volume, in barrels, of crude oil received in that month, separated into domestic and foreign subtotals.
- The volume-weighted average crude oil acquisition cost paid for crude oil that is received and intended to be refined during that month, separated into domestic and foreign crude oil acquisition costs.
- The volume in barrels of refined gasoline received or imported in that month from entities other than the refiner.
- The volume-weighted average cost of any refined gasoline received or imported by a refiner during that month.
- The quantity, in barrels, of wholesale gasoline meeting California specifications sold and the corresponding volume-weighted average prices, less all applicable local, state, and federal taxes, separated by unbranded rack sales, branded rack sales, bulk sales, spot pipeline sales, and dealer tankwagon (DTW) sales in that month.
- Separate quantification of the volume-weighted fees or estimated valuations of costs embedded in all wholesale gasoline sales associated with the low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) and associated with the cap and trade cap-at-the-rack (CAR) program, for each volume-weighted average price for: (A) unbranded rack sales, (B) branded rack sales, (C) bulk sales, (D) spot pipeline sales, and (E) DTW sales, in that month.
- The gross gasoline refining margin per barrel of gasoline sold in that month.
- The operational costs per barrel of gasoline sold in that month, including a complete description and amount of each category of cost identified in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) and any other category of cost.
- The net gasoline refining margin per barrel of gasoline sold in that month.
- Within 45 days of the end of each calendar month, the commission shall post on its internet website all of the following:
- The gross gasoline refining margin data reported pursuant to this section for that month, and any gross gasoline refining margin independently calculated by the commission, as a volume-weighted gross refining margin in aggregate for all the combined refineries in the state.
- The gross gasoline refining margin data reported for that month, and any gross gasoline refining margin independently calculated by the commission, in aggregate for each refiner with more than one refinery operating within California.
- The net gasoline refining margin data reported pursuant to this section for that month, and any net gasoline refining margin independently calculated by the commission, as a volume-weighted net refining margin in aggregate for all the combined refineries in the state.
- The net gasoline refining margin data reported for that month, and any net gasoline refining margin independently calculated by the commission, in aggregate for each refiner with more than one refinery operating within the state.
- The aggregated data submitted pursuant to paragraphs (1) through (4), inclusive, of subdivision (b) for that month.
Amended by Stats. 2023, 1st Ex. Sess., Ch. 1, Sec. 4. (SB 2 1x) Effective June 26, 2023.)
Contact
Media & Public Communications Office | mediaoffice@energy.ca.gov | 916-654-4989