SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumer President Jamie Court warned the Senate Energy, Utilities and Commerce Committee today that without long-promised oil refinery regulations California would continue to suffer from profiteering at the gas pump.

"California oil refiners are once again treating the state like an ATM," said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. "Californians are paying two dollars more at the pump than they did in January. Crude oil producers are pocketing 70 cents more off the global run-up in oil prices and the rest is going to higher profit margins for the 5 oil refiners that supply California gasoline.  Oil refiners' gross profits margins in California topped $1 per gallon in March and are an estimated $1.50 to $1.70 per gallon for May. This is pig at the trough level greed that is bleeding California drivers dry.  California has the tools to deal with it, but hasn't written or implemented rules approved by the legislature in 2023 and 2024 to stop this kind of profiteering."

In his presentation, Court pointed to refining margin data published by the California Energy Commission monthly, with a 45-day delay, under SB 1322, authored by Senator Ben Allen, which shows how much refiners make off every gallon of California gasoline.  He showed how the average gross profit refining margin from March of $1 per gallon will likely grow to up to $1.70 per gallon in May because gas prices were 70 cents lower in March and crude oil costs were about the same. That means the remaining increase in pump prices were all or mostly all profit margins for the oil refiners, according to Court. 

Consumer Watchdog's president showed how an early closure and a continuing outage at two Northern California refineries left California with reduced inventories that precipitated the price spike in February, a month prior to the start of the Iran war.  Consumer Watchdog called for legislative oversight hearings in February.

Court said regulations approved by the legislature in special legislative session reforms in 2023 and 2024 should have required oil refiners to keep minimum inventories and have resupply arrangements when refineries went down. However, the California Energy Commission (CEC) never wrote the rules. In addition, a price gouging penalty to return ill-gotten gains back to consumers was never implemented by the CEC.

"California shot itself in the foot by never writing new regulations to address the crisis Californians are facing at the pump," said Court. "While the war drove up crude prices, more of the profiteering is at the refinery level and is being driven by limited inventories and the failure to have resupply agreements, which could have been addressed by the rules. In addition, refiner profits above $1 per gallon were exactly what drove the case for a price gouging penalty. California officials' inaction left us defenseless to deal with this gouging."

While refiners threaten to leave the state, Court pointed to quotes from oil refiners' calls with shareholders that showed they are very happy with a gasoline market that runs on tight inventories so they can make more money.  

He also called out the oil refiners for claiming state environmental policies and taxes are driving up costs. Court noted all environmental fees, which protect against global warming, and taxes, which fund our toll-less roads, cost Californians 87 cents more per gallon than the average state. Meanwhile California gas prices have been as much as two dollars more per gallon than US prices at times during the last months.

Gasoline prices are $1.55 cents more than US gasoline prices as measured by the Energy Information Administration California as of 6/1 and $1.73 more when measured by AAA as of today. 

Consumer Watchdog also raised concern about a new revolving door hire at the California Energy Commission, Deborah Meeks, a former Shell executive who is now the California Energy Commission's Deputy Director of Fuels Analysis. Meek's team will have responsibility for writing rules for net refining margins and minimum inventories and resupply arrangements, if they are ever written.

"Putting an oil executive who represented Shell, a major oil marketer in the state, in charge of writing rules to protect against supply and price manipulation feels like turning the chicken coop over to the fox," said Court. "I don't care how good a person Meeks is, her viewpoint and loyalties had to be shaped by years in the industry.  Meeks needs to have a fire wall and strict review of her role in shaping rules designed to protect competition and supply in the industry. This is indicative of the steps backward the CEC has taken during the last year and the threat that regulatory capture poses at the CEC." 

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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog