PBF Martinez Refinery Is Still Down, Driving $6 Per Gallon Gas -- Resupply and Minimum Inventory Rules Needed To Stop Gas Price Spikes, Says Consumer Watchdog

LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- In its recent investor call, PBF acknowledged that its Martinez refinery is still not up and running, but the company is getting paid from a billion-dollar business interruption policy. 

Meanwhile, AAA reports that Californians are paying more than $6 per gallon for gasoline and Northern California drivers have been paying two dollars per gallon more for their gasoline because there is only one functional refinery in the Bay Area. 

Consumer Watchdog said the blame rests with California regulators that failed to write regulations requiring refiners to have adequate supplies on hand when their refineries go down.

"It's déjà vu all over again from the 2022 gas price spikes, only this time the state did not learn its lesson and take the legislatively-mandated steps to protect Californians," said Jamie Court, President of Consumer Watchdog. "$6 per gallon gas is on Newsom, not Trump. Will the legislature hold the Newsom Administration accountable in Assembly hearings next week or will there be a white wash of the Administration's inaction?"

Rules for resupply required under 2023 special session legislation, SBx1-2, would have made PBF have resupply arrangements to backfill the lost production, but they were never completed by the California Energy Commission (CEC). Similarly, rules for minimum inventory requirements, under 2024's ABX2-1, would have helped blunt the problem, but they have not been written either.

Recently, 45 groups wrote the Newsom Administration calling for emergency rules.

"PBF had no incentive to bring Martinez back online on its mid-February schedule because it was being paid by its billion dollar business interruption policy," said Court. "PBF could make more on every gallon of gas sold at its other refinery because of the price spike and still collect for what it wasn't producing at Martinez. If the CEC had written resupply rules, PBF would have been forced to have a resupply pipeline to replace what was lost at Martinez. Instead, the CEC has ignored its legislative mandate in 2023 and allowed this market to be unregulated despite clear legislative direction. The CEC has some explaining to do to the legislature, starting at the May 5 Assembly oversight hearing, and needs to deliver a timeline for resupply and minimum inventory rules."

PBF CFO Joe Marino acknowledged on the investor call: "This brings our total insurance recoveries to $1 billion net of our deductibles and retention, including the amounts received in 2025."

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog