Oil giant Phillips 66 said on Oct. 16 that it plans to shut down its refinery in the Los Angeles area of California in the fourth quarter of 2025.
About 900 people are involved in operating the oil refinery, including approximately 600 employees and hundreds of contractors, according to the company.
“We understand this decision has an impact on our employees, contractors and the broader community,” Phillips 66 CEO Mark Lashier said in a statement announcing the plan. “We will work to help and support them through this transition.”
Lashier cited uncertainty regarding “long-term sustainability” and said the refinery was “affected by market dynamics.”
A Phillips 66 spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the statement referred to the low profitability of the refinery in contrast with other company-wide assets and was not a reaction to the state’s regulatory structure or the newly signed Assembly Bill X2, which grants the California Energy Commission the authority to regulate inventory and maintenance schedules….