By Simon August
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Tuesday that the Trump administration is discussing reopening shut-down refineries to produce more fuel.
Wright said at an event in Houston that the administration has been talking to the owners of every refinery that closed in the past decade, Argus Media reported. The goal is “to find what’s the most practical one to get a refinery up and running,” he said.
“We are talking about reopening every refinery we can,” Wright said in Houston, Reuters reported. “There are dialogues there, and that’s a tough challenge. I’m not saying all these are going to happen.”
One of them is Valero’s refinery in Benicia, California, which was the most recent U.S. refinery to shut down, Argus reported.
Phillips 66 said in October 2024 that it planned to shut its refinery near Los Angeles by the end of 2025, according to a company release.
“Conversations between Phillips 66 and any government officials are private in nature,” the company said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “With that said, Phillips 66 engages with government officials to provide information about our operations and the issues impacting our company.”
The Energy Department, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, Valero and Delek US Holdings did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment. The American Petroleum Institute asked for more time and did not immediately provide a comment on the record.
Diesel prices climbed to record highs because of the Iran war, which started Feb. 28, and Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries, according to Reuters.
“We are working with our friends … to find new and innovative ways to get more throughput” through refineries, Energy Department Under Secretary Kyle Haustveit said Tuesday at the Drake Forum in Titusville, Pennsylvania, according to Reuters.
The Energy Department also said Wednesday that it will lend up to 315,000 barrels from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, nearly a third of the stockpile, Reuters reported. Heating oil is chemical similar to diesel as both fuels are distillates derived from crude oil.
The reserve’s first emergency use came after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, according to the department’s website.
Vice President JD Vance said Oct. 13 that the administration plans to use the Defense Production Act, a Korean War-era law, to help Delek grow its refinery in Tyler, Texas, Argus reported. He made the announcement while campaigning for Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for the U.S. Senate.
Delek “had a very attractive proposal” to raise output there, Wright said at the Houston event, according to the outlet.
American refiners are already running at 95 percent to 100 percent capacity and have postponed scheduled maintenance while prices stay high, American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers told Reuters.
“The American refiners are doing everything they can,” Sommers said. He added that China’s government is barring diesel exports and that Beijing “is really going to be the key if we’re going to get long-term prices down.”
Wright told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that fuel prices are falling.
“I’m happy they’re coming down. They’ve gone down the last few weeks, as have diesel prices, and they will continue to come down,” he said.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) put the national average for diesel at about $6.32 a gallon Wednesday, down from about $6.51 a month earlier.
Reuters reported that the administration has also said that commercial vehicles can use red-dyed diesel, a fuel that is normally only for off-road equipment.
