NY Post, by Titus Wu: California is about to face the most brutal test of the gas crisis yet as the final ship carrying oil from the Middle East arrived in the Golden State.
The last oil tanker to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since the Iran war kicked off docked at the Port of Long Beach with two million barrels for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Despite the West Coast being heavily reliant on fossil fuels out of the Persian Gulf due to crippling eco-policies from Gavin Newsom, there are no more vessels currently en route.
Oil giants and experts tore into California’s Democratic leaders for letting the state become so exposed to supply problems out of the Middle East while crucifying any production at home.
It has seen the price of a gallon of fuel rocket to $6.1 for drivers up the West Coast — nearly $2 more than the national average — with some gas stations hitting up to $8.
California is now holding out hope that President Trump’s plan to have the US Navy escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz from Monday will bring some relief.
Hong Kong-flagged ship New Corolla, which loaded up on oil in Iraq on February 24 just days before war broke out, was spotted unloaded the vital black gold in Long Beach over the weekend.
It will now spend two weeks unloading at the Marathon Petroleum terminal before leaving California to figure out how to make up for the 200,000 barrels a day it got from the Middle East.
Last year, California refineries sourced around 30% of their foreign crude oil from the Persian Gulf, based on state data.
The Golden State is particularly vulnerable to war in the region as its status as an isolated energy island without gas pipelines has led it to increasingly rely on these imports.
Oil giants said the region only had itself to blame and warned drivers and consumers across the West Coast will feel the squeeze.
A spokesman for the Western States Petroleum Association told The Post: “This shows the recklessness of California’s policy of intentionally outsourcing our critical energy infrastructure to other parts of the world.
“California’s economy depends on a reliable supply of fuel – when that supply is interrupted, consumers and business pay the price.”
A spokesman for Chevron, which has been vocal about California’s energy policies, said: “We believe many years of Sacramento’s adversarial policies toward refining and energy production have left the state at the end of a long, fragile supply chain.
“California lost 18% of its refining capacity in just the past 8 months because the state made those operations uncompetitive.
“Now California imports as much as 25% of gasoline and 20% of its jet fuel from overseas refineries that are more leveraged to Mideast crude oil than American refineries are.
“We believe California needs to cut taxes, reduce red tape and do everything it can to hold onto its remaining manufacturing capacity.”
They added: “Energy security demands an all-of-the-above approach to policy and we urge Sacramento to embrace it.”
Democratic and Republican state lawmakers have already sounded the alarm on the impending emergency and blasted California’s energy authorities for not having a plan.
“We are demanding an emergency plan to deal with this fuel crisis,” A Democratic assemblymember David Alvarez said late last month.
“Our request — demand, I would say at this point — highlights past due reports, some well over a year, that are due and required to be presented to the legislature.”
They noted how countries such as the Philippines and South Korea, where shortages have already hit, have called on citizens to cut back on gas or declared a national gas emergency to secure imports.
The California Energy Commission on Sunday claimed it was confident in the state’s oil supply outlook for the next six weeks, despite fears over the current stockpile that has been depleting since the 1980s.
Gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton said climate policies have discouraged oil production in the state and led to refinery closures which has made it even more vulnerable.
He told The Post: “They’ve been shutting down our oil and gas industry in California in the name of climate but actually it’s had no impact on global temperatures because we’ve been importing oil and gas from halfway around the world.”
Trump may come to California’s rescue after revealing plans for the American military to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz starting on Monday.
The president said countries from all over the world that operate the hundreds of ships stuck around the narrow strip have reached out to the US for help, with him vowing to step up.
He wrote on Truth Social on Sunday: “For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business.
“These are Ships from areas of the World that are not in any way involved with that which is currently taking place in the Middle East.
“The Ship movement is merely meant to free up people, companies, and Countries that have done absolutely nothing wrong — They are victims of circumstance.”
He said the operation, which he dubbed Project Freedom, would begin on Monday morning local time.
Our Comment:
Could we see anarchy in California if they run out of oil?
Prophetic Link:
“The spirit of anarchy is permeating all nations, and the outbreaks that from time to time excite the horror of the world are but indications of the pent-up fires of passion and lawlessness that, having once escaped control, will fill the earth with woe and desolation. The picture which Inspiration has given of the antediluvian world, represents too truly the condition to which modern society is fast hastening. Even now, in the present century, and in professedly Christian lands, there are crimes daily perpetrated, as black and terrible as those for which the old-world sinners were destroyed. Before the flood, God sent Noah to warn the world, that the people might be led to repentance, and thus escape the threatened destruction. As the time of Christ’s second appearing draws near, the Lord sends His servants with a warning to the world to prepare for that great event. Multitudes have been living in transgression of God’s law, and now He in mercy calls them to obey its sacred precepts. All who will put away their sins by repentance toward God and faith in Christ, are offered pardon.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 102