Valero Refinery Fire in Benicia is the Latest in California’s Fuel Supply Challenges
The fire may now have given Valero incentive to close the facility even sooner than planned April 2026 schedule.
A few days ago, I reported that Valero Energy Corporation had announced plans to close its Benicia oil refinery, located just northeast of San Francisco, by the end of April 2026.
This facility, which processes between 145,000 and 170,000 barrels of crude oil daily, has been a significant economic engine for Benicia and a major supplier of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and asphalt for the California market. It is also the exclusive supplier to nearby Travis Air Force Base via pipeline.
As that wasn’t bad enough, a fire broke out at the same facility on Monday morning. The incident began around 8:45–9:00 a.m., sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky, which were visible for miles and prompted immediate concern from local authorities and residents.
Bill Wachob came outside to film all the black smoke billowing for miles.
“Everything was blowing across the straits,” he said.
Contra Costa Health spokeswoman Brittany Goldman said the agency is aware of the fire and sending a HazMat team to Martinez to monitor for potential impacts.
And a Cal-OSHA investigator was sent out to assess what happened and if any workers were injured.
In a statement on Monday, Valero said company emergency crews responded and they will watch the air quality for safety issues.
“The safety of our workers and community is our priority and we are coordinating with state and local authorities,” the company wrote.
Contra Costa Health is aware of an incident at the Valero Benicia Refinery and is sending a HazMat team to Martinez to monitor for any potential impacts within our county. We will continue to keep residents informed as more information becomes available. pic.twitter.com/yDe0G5oiuK
— Contra Costa Health (@CoCoHealth) May 5, 2025
The fire was under control by noon. The cause of the blaze is not currently known and is under investigation.
The shelter order was lifted just before 10:40 a.m. after firefighters said the blaze was under control.
“While there is particulate matter present, all other air monitoring is below health hazard levels,” the Benicia Fire Department said in a post on social media.
No injuries were reported in the fire. Information about the cause of the fire was not available.
Air monitoring of the area is part of the follow-up action plan.
Contra Costa health officials said Monday that they were sending a hazardous materials team to Martinez to monitor for any potential impacts from the Benicia fire.
The Benicia Fire Department said it had also requested drone air monitoring from the Solano County Hazardous Materials Response Team.
Valero said in a statement that emergency crews responded and are monitoring for air quality issues.
“The safety of our workers and community is our priority, and we are coordinating with state and local authorities,” the company said.
Beege Welborne of Hot Air notes that the fire may now have given Valero the incentive to close the facility even sooner than planned.
Now the concern turns to whether Valero repairs any of the damage to keep the refinery operational until next year. Or if, depending on how extensive the damage is assessed to be once the flames are out, they throw in the towel, like, NOW.
They’ve already taken a billion-dollar write-down on this facility this year – what are the odds they write the whole thing off?
What does Newsom do then?
What is anyone going to do when this goes away and, God forbid, there’s another ‘oops’ at one of the few remaining refineries or they simply have to shut down for maintenance or seasonal fuel formulation?
Looks like the “FO” phase of the FAFO cycle is going to be even sooner and more painful in this state.
The “uh oh” moment is in 2025, not 2026. Yikes!
— Jared Wiegand (@jared_wiegand) May 5, 2025
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from keying teslas to starting fires
watch for this to be labeled the companies fault so CA can make more “income” in their lawsuit
Tell the fire marshal to keep an eye out for carved swastikas.
Me and my wife were born in California in the late 50s. My sons in CA in the 80s. Business moved us to the east coast in 96. We still have family and friends throughout the state. Many in our family have moved out.
After Reagan left as Governor and Brown became Governor the state started its downward spiral. Reagan had many common sense things in place operating in the state and Brown stopped them as he started to get the environmentalists in place.
Overtime the Dems took over all areas of most governments. This has lead to the state government plan to go green in energy. They have ended all but one Nuclear Plant, many dams, all coal, gas plants, have wind farms, and solar farms.
The state has forced shutting down refineries and soon all will be closed as they want nothing but EV. The problem is that they do not have EV changing everywhere, they have brownouts, they have blackouts, and people do not all have EVs. The problem is that oil and fuel is needed for many things beyond just gas vehicles and refineries are a requirement in a state.
Just a conjecture, but I find it interesting that in the Sciuridae copulation that is the politics and sociology of California; both the Left and the Right could be considered to have motives for setting such a fire.
Consider the Left, which makes up most of the population of the state. They hate capitalism. They hate energy usage, especially petrochemical energy. They hate the US military and the country it defends. And they know that said defense requires a ready and secure source of that energy. And they know that state law enforcement and the state judiciary are not likely to be too energetic in seeking any culprits who may have set the fire, especially if the culprits are foreign invaders or members of the many “protected classes”. And the line staff and middle management of the Federal counterparts of the state agencies in California will probably share that lack of energy.
Those few on the Right might have the motivation of realizing that no matter what happens not only the Benecia refinery but also most of the economy of California is going to be destroyed by the Left anyway so why not let them enjoy/endure what they are going to do, only sooner rather than later.
Then, as noted in the post, Valero [and to be honest many of the companies in California who see what is likely coming] may be thinking it it time to beat feet out of there and back to something hopefully resembling America.
Some family history, if I may. Shipping, container ship shipping, is a key part of the economy of California. As in it could not survive without it. One of my daughters and her husband owned and operated a very successful company in California that was both specialized and technical and vital to the operation of container ship ports.
As California increased taxes and regulations to the point where they could see that it was not going to be worth doing business there they had to make a decision. So they closed the company in California and opened it in another West Coast state, and prospered.
Then that state began to duplicate what California had done. So they decided to liquidate the company and retire. There was no successor company taking over their specialized function. Which was a net loss to both states.
It may be wise for commercial entities to avoid Leftist run states.
Subotai Bahadur
How Democrats keep a totalitarian grip on California is scary. When I lived there I wondered if there could anything that Newsom or the Democrats could do to so voters would have enough. Sadly I don’t think there is. The base of the Democrats is so far Left and totalitarian themselves. Be concerned if Newsom is the nominee in 2028.
Gonna be very intriguing to see how this shakes out. The gov’t of CA has for decades worked to create fragility in their all their systems not just infrastructure. Events so far 2025 seems to have begun to reveal the scale of the problems faced by CA. Maybe there’s enough residents with enough common sense to demand immediate reversal of the Cray Cray but I truly don’t think so. Anything less dramatic than that won’t be enough to stop additional damage much less repair existing damage.
With so many people leaving the state, the collective (pardon the pun) cray-cray factor is rising, not falling. They’re well into the death spiral now.
So glad we escaped 4 years ago. CA native and 63 year resident. Started, built and eventually sold a small business with 38 employees. Raised 4 kids, thankfully was able to send them to private schools. Now all 4 kids, our 4.5 grandkids, my wife and I live in Idaho. Was just visiting a friend in NorCal last week, driving thru small towns on Hwy 20, lots of billboards for weed “dispensaries” and vape joints. Gas was a bit cheaper than I expected, around $5 per gallon. Restaurant prices tell a story, average sandwich ran around $15.
Thing is certain. Valero won’t be wasting money to rebuild anything there
And, it looks like the people of California are getting what they voted for even faster than they counted on
goal #1 of the climate gang
Hmmm watch the government of California try to order the company to repair the facility, while also ordering all oil companies not to raise prices on the basis of scarcity.
Bet anyone?
From first reports, the fire occurred in the fluid catalytic cracking unit. That is the process that takes heavy molecules of gooey crude oil and converts them into diesel, kerosene, gasoline, and other process intermediate streams. Until they get the unit fixed (and to be cynical, why should they?) there will be few refined products coming out from there.
Considering if they were going to close that plant in about a year anyhow, I doubt that they fix anything
I’ll bet there are tankers being chartered in Singapore as we speak.
Hmm. Fires. Hmm. Palisades? Lahaina? Seems some devious sorts with the means are trying to price everyone out of choice (and ‘unproductive’) real estate.
Hmm.
Nobody ever going to build new refineries in CA with lefties in charge. Enjoy $10 gas. Elections have consequences.
Considering California’s hostility to petroleum, none should be supplied to them.
To paraphrase…
What did Californians use for transportation before horses and mules?
Cars and trucks.
“Contra Costa health officials said Monday that they were sending a hazardous materials team to Martinez to monitor for any potential impacts from the Benicia fire.”
I believe that idea needed to be repeated at least once more.
Francisco, that you?
Ragnar?