LOS ANGELES — As gasoline prices surge to new heights after the U.S. banned Russian oil, California drivers are in a position to be uniquely squeezed at the fuel pump.
That's because West Coast oil refineries are Russia's best U.S. customers.
Russian oil is only a small piece of the U.S. energy picture, accounting for 3% of U.S. oil imports, and most of those imports flow to refineries on the West and East coasts. But nearly half of Russian oil shipped into the U.S. last year, or close to 100,000 barrels a day, ended up primarily in California, Washington and Hawaii, refinery consultant Andrew Lipow said.
