California’s summer travel season is facing mounting uncertainty as a global oil crunch and shrinking jet fuel reserves threaten to disrupt flights, drive up prices and complicate plans for millions of travelers.
“People don’t know exactly how this is going to escalate,” Mike Duignan, a hospitality expert and professor at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University,told the Los Angeles Times.
“There’s a huge black cloud over the sea for the World Cup and the travel slump that we’re seeing is all linked to this oil shortage.”
The warning comes as the state’s jet fuel supply has dropped to its lowest level in more than two years.
“Current production and inventory levels of jet fuel are within historical ranges,” a spokesperson for the California Energy Commission said. “Although supply is tight, no structural deficit has emerged yet.”
California’s in-state oil production peaked in the mid-1980s, specifically around 1985 at approximately 424 million barrels annually.
Since then, production has experienced a long-term, steady decline, with current production falling significantly to about 285,000 barrels per day.
In 2025, more than 61% of the state’s crude oil came from foreign sources. At the same time, refinery shutdowns by Phillips 66 and Valero have wiped out roughly 17% to 20% of California’s gasoline production capacity.
“It’s real terrible timing for California to see the loss of two refineries at a time when Asia is struggling with oil supplies of its own,” Patrick De Haan,a petroleum analyst told Fortune.
The shrinking refining capacity is hitting jet fuel the hardest, as it is typically the first product affected when output declines.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
