Trump’s Energy Chief Wants To Reopen ‘Every Refinery We Can’ To Make More Fuel

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Tuesday that the Trump administration is discussing reopening shut-down refineries to produce more fuel.

Wright said at an event in Houston that the administration has been talking to the owners of every refinery that closed in the past decade, Argus Media reported. The goal is “to find what’s the most practical one to get a refinery up and running,” he said.

“We are talking about reopening every refinery we can,” Wright said in Houston, Reuters reported. “There are dialogues there, and that’s a tough challenge. I’m not saying all these are going to happen.”

One of them is Valero’s refinery in Benicia, California, which was the most recent U.S. refinery to shut down, Argus reported.

Phillips 66 said in October 2024 that it planned to shut its refinery near Los Angeles by the end of 2025, according to a company release.

“Conversations between Phillips 66 and any government officials are private in nature,” the company said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “With that said, Phillips 66 engages with government officials to provide information about our operations and the issues impacting our company.”

The Energy Department, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, Valero and Delek US Holdings did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment. The American Petroleum Institute asked for more time and did not immediately provide a comment on the record.

Diesel prices climbed to record highs because of the Iran war, which started Feb. 28, and Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries, according to Reuters.

“We are working with our friends … to find new and innovative ways to get more throughput” through refineries, Energy Department Under Secretary Kyle Haustveit said Tuesday at the Drake Forum in Titusville, Pennsylvania, according to Reuters.