Valero Bay Area refinery shutting down, impacting fuel imports

(The Center Square) - A Valero Energy refinery in the Bay Area that provides about 9% of California’s gasoline supply began shutting down at the end of January, earlier than some anticipated, with potential knock-on effects on gas and motor fuels prices in Nevada, Arizona and other western states, according to news reports. A former manager at Valero Energy, Mike Aziza, said the San Antonio-based oil company started idling the Benicia, Calif. refinery on Jan. 31, and thermal imaging reports show it is not emitting heat, according to a report in the California Globe. Californians paid the nation’s highest gas prices as of early Wednesday morning at $4.50 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. That's above the national average of $2.92. Drivers in neighboring states Nevada and Arizona, some of them supplied by gasoline produced at California’s refineries, paid the fifth and ninth highest fuel prices in the nation. Philipps 66 closed its Los Angeles refinery in Octo