Increasingly Dirtier Oil Will Impact LCFS Deficits

California refines crude oil from 18 countries around the world, seven US states, and the US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) (as of 2020). Within California there are 157 major oil fields in operation. During 2020, California refined 478.4 million barrels of crude oil, which had an average CI (gCO2e/MJ) score of 13.39.

Most of the oil processed by California comes from within the state.  California supplied itself with 31% of the crude oil processed, followed by Alaska (19%), and Ecuador (12%). Oil supplied to California from the other US states and the OCS account for 51 percent of the oil processed in California.

Unfortunately for California and the LCFS program, California is also the home of some of the worlds dirtiest crude oil. The carbon intensity scores for crude oil supplied in 2020, range from 1.59 (g/MJ) in the US OCS to 48.13 (g/MJ) at the US California…