DESPITE OBJECTIONS, CHEVRON SAYS IT REPORTED OIL PRICE DATA

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press

CHEVRON said on Tuesday it reported how much money it made in January from selling gasoline in California, disclosing the data after regulators threatened to fine the company for not following a new law aimed at investigating the cause of the state's high gas prices.

The law requires oil companies to report their monthly "gross refining margin," the difference between how much refineries paid for crude oil and how much the company sold it for as gasoline. State lawmakers and regulators believe the data will give them a clearer picture of what has driven sharp increases in California's gas prices, which are consistently the highest in the nation.

Chevron spokesperson Ross Allen said the company filed a "revised response" late Tuesday afternoon with regulators that included the data required by law. He said the company was never out of compliance with the law, noting they began reporting the data March 2 — the deadline for oil companies to report January pricing data — and supplied the rest of the information after seeking clarification from the California Energy Commission.

"Since the statutory guidance was unclear, rather than speculate and supply inconsistent and potentially inaccurate data, Chevron exercised its statutory right to object and seek clarification in a timely manner," Allen said.

State law requires much of the data to remain confidential. Representatives with the Energy Commission did not respond late Tuesday afternoon to confirm if Chevron had filed the data.

Gas in California is always more expensive because the state has higher taxes and fees than other states and requires a special blend of fuel that's better for the environment but more expensive to produce.

Last summer, however, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in California was more than $2.60 higher than the national average, a difference that regulators and state lawmakers said was too large to be explained by taxes and fees.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has accused the state's big five oil companies of price gouging. He has asked the state Legislature to pass a firstin-the-nation law that would penalize oil companies once their profits surpassed a certain threshold.

The proposal is still pending in the state Legislature. But starting in January, a new law required oil companies to disclose more data about their pricing. That data could serve as the threshold for any new penalties on oil profits in the future.

Of the big five oil companies that provide 97% of the state's gasoline, four of them met the March 2 deadline for reporting January pricing data: Marathon Petroleum Corporation, PBF Energy Inc., Phillips 66 and Valero Energy Corp., according to the California Energy Commission, which collects the data. which equated to 86.9 percent of GDP at the end of December 2022.

“This is equivalent to the rate at the end of June 2022 and, at the end of December, domestic debt accounted for 53.1 percent of central government debt, whereas foreign debt accounted for 46.9 percent of total central government debt.

“And, just back to the issue of the debt-to-GDP at 86.9 percent at the end of December, when we compare that to just over 100 percent in June 2021 we see, again, that moving in the right direction when we look at the overall deficit position.”

And, while the Government has revised the projected full-year deficit for 2022-2023 upwards to $575.4m compared to the original $564m forecast, Mr Halkitis said: “The deficit as a percentage of GDP we forecast to come in still at 4.3 percent, which was forecast at the last Budget that was presented in June 2022, and so these are indeed current encouraging signs.” the final decisions are made in respect to what the development looks like.

“They still have to go through the environmental process to determine what is environmentally friendly. That’s not my call; that is the Department of the Environmental Planning and Protection Agency. They will look at what is there and they will tell us about the environmental impact that the development has, and they will decide whether it will go on in that in the form or fashion.

He added: “In respect to the other issues she raised, we are all concerned about those issues and until those are addressed properly, the project will… and this is what was communicated to them, they are speaking as though the decision has been made without these concerns, being taken into account.”