What happened

Valero notified the California Energy Commission in April 2025 of its intent to idle, restructure or cease refining at its roughly 145,000 bbl/d Benicia refinery; as of a January 2026 update, the company was proceeding with a phased idling of processing units, targeting completion by April 2026 while working down inventories. Storage and import activity are expected to continue while the site's longer-term future remains under discussion; the shutdown is projected to cost Benicia about $10.8 million a year in tax revenue (≈13% of its general fund) and to cut West Coast gasoline output by roughly 9%. This was a voluntary commercial decision, not an incident or attack.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.