LOS ANGELES (AP) — Oil company Phillips 66 announced Wednesday that it plans to shut down a Los Angeles-area refinery by the end of 2025, citing market concerns.
The refinery accounts for about 8% of California's refining capacity, according to the state's Energy Commission. The company said it will remain operating in the state.
“With the long-term sustainability of our Los Angeles Refinery uncertain and affected by market dynamics, we are working with leading land development firms to evaluate the future use of our unique and strategically located properties near the Port of Los Angeles,” CEO Mark Lashier said in a statement. “Phillips 66 remains committed to serving California and will continue to take the necessary steps to meet our commercial and customer demands.”
The closure will impact 600 employees and 300 contractors who help operate the refinery, the company said in a news release. The refinery consists of two facilities that were built more than a century ago.
The announcement comes days after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law aimed at preventing gas prices from spiking at the pump. The law authorizes energy regulators to require refineries to maintain a certain level of fuel on hand. The goal is to avoid sudden increases in gas prices when refineries go offline for maintenance.
Phillips 66's decision to close was not related to the new law, the company said. It said it supported the state's efforts to keep certain levels of fuel on hand to meet consumer needs.
The company also operates a refinery near San Francisco that accounts for about 5% of California’s refining capacity, according to the state Energy Commission. Phillips 66 Santa Maria, a refinery that was located about 62 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Santa Barbara, shut down in 2023 after the company announced plans to convert its San Francisco-area site into “one of the world’s largest renewable fuels facilities.”
Newsom has applied pressure on lawmakers to pass oil and gas regulations. He called the state Legislature into a special session in 2022 to pass legislation aimed at cracking down on oil companies for making too much money. The Democrat often touts California's status as a climate leader. The state has passed policies in recent years to phase out the the sale of new fossil fuel-powered lawn mowers, cars, big rigs and trains.
This story has been corrected to show that the Los Angeles-area refinery accounts for about 8% of California’s refining capacity, not that it produces that amount of the state’s crude oil. It has corrected the same error for the San Francisco-area refinery.
FILE - The Phillips 66 refinery is shown, July 16, 2014 in the Wilmington area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
FILE - A jogger runs in front of the Phillips 66 refinery, July 16, 2014, in the Wilmington area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
