PBF Energy slams California Governor Newsom for gasoline price ‘politicization’ (NYSE:PBF)

PBF Vitality (NYSE:PBF) rejected a request from the California Vitality Fee to testify at a listening to subsequent week on gasoline value spikes, citing Governor Gavin Newsom’s “politicization of this problem” and failure to hearken to warnings in regards to the state’s declining gasoline manufacturing, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

“Refining is a particularly capital-intensive enterprise,” and “California’s regulatory setting is placing future funding in refining and gasoline manufacturing in danger within the state,” PBF (PBF) wrote in its response to the regulator.

Refiners Marathon Petroleum (MPC) and Phillips 66 (PSX) additionally declined to testify, citing issues about with the ability to share data amid federal antitrust legal guidelines.

PBF (PBF) is on monitor to make practically $3B in earnings this yr, which it’s utilizing to pay down the “exorbitant debt” it took on to outlive California’s COVID-19 lockdowns, the corporate mentioned in its letter.

The deliberate listening to comes as gasoline costs in California stay the best within the continental U.S., with a median of $5.157 per gallon of unleaded gasoline, in response to AAA; Newsom has blamed “grasping” oil firms “ripping off” clients on the pump.