In a recent article, California Refineries Close as Gasoline Demand Slips into Permanent Decline, I wrote that diesel consumption in California had not declined even as gasoline demand slipped. Jeremy Martin from the Union of Concerned Scientists reached out to me to point to some data I’d missed. I reviewed it and saw that renewable diesel plus biodiesel now supply more than 70% of diesel consumed in California. Fossil diesel consumption has declined faster than I thought. That changes how we should think about the state of refining, the role of refineries, and what their future might be.
