Chevron on Thursday said the Isomax unit at its 269,000 b/d El Segundo, Calif., refinery has resumed operations after a pipe failure led to a five-month shutdown.

Repairs to the unit, which produces jet fuel and high-octane gasoline, were completed ahead of schedule, the company said. The El Segundo plant supplies more than 35% of the jet fuel used by Southern California refineries and spot Los Angeles jet fuel prices shot higher following the outage.

After an October fire at the refinery disrupted jet fuel production, cash prices rose by about 30cts/gal as LA jet fuel's differential to the NYMEX strengthened by more than 58cts over the nine trading days that began on Oct. 2.

Market sources have said structural changes in the market have more closely tied West Coast jet fuel prices to the global market, adding that any international supply disruption would likely send prices in the region higher.

Chevron sources about 20% of El Segundo's crude oil supply from in-state production and the company recently signaled that it could increase its use of Venezuelan crude.

LA spot jet fuel prices have risen by 78% since Feb. 27 after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks against Iran on Feb. 28 and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The implied price for March-delivered LA jet fuel were up nearly 21cts to $4.60/gal at about 1:45 p.m. ET Thursday.

California jet fuel stocks rose to 2.983 million bbl in the week ended Friday from 2.838 million bbl in the previous week, the California Energy Commission reported. And the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday estimated West Coast jet fuel holdings rose by 500,000 bbl to 11.6 million bbl in the week ended Friday.

EIA also reported that jet fuel imports averaged 128,000 b/d last week, up 44,000 b/d in the previous week. Cargoes into the region in March were sourced and secured before the war began.

OPIS reported earlier that the arb between Asia and the West Coast is closed as jet fuel prices in Asia have soared on the Middle East conflict.

Market sources they expect the full effect of the changing trade flows is expected to be felt starting in April.

April-delivered LA jet was indicated 65cts over NYMEX May ULSD contract, putting the price at $4.76/gal.


This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.


-- Reporting by Bayan Raji, braji@opisnet.com and My Nguyen, mynguyen@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeffrey Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-19-26 1637ET