Chevron fire expected to boost price at the pump

How long the refinery in El Segundo is out of operation may decide costs for Southland.

- BY LAURENCE DARMIENTO

THE CHEVRON refinery produces about one-fifth of all motor vehicle fuels and 40% of the jet fuel consumed in Southern California.

(ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times)

The fire at the state’s second-largest oil refinery in El Segundo not only produced a giant fireball, but it’s expected to boost Southern California gas prices almost immediately — but by how much depends on how long the refinery might be out of operation.

The Thursday evening explosion at the Chevron refinery damaged a jet fuel production unit at the facility, but by sunrise Friday, there appeared to be little damage at the 1,000-acre complex, though some flames were still visible.

The historic refinery, which opened in 1911, produces approximately one-fifth of all motor vehicle fuels and 40% of the jet fuel consumed in Southern California.

This region already faces tight supplies due to limited refinery capacity in the state, which imports hundreds of thousands of barrels of gasoline daily.

Economist Severin Borenstein, faculty director of the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, said that it’s difficult to determine from early reports how disruptive the fire will be to its gasoline production.