California uses a special low-polluting blend of gasoline known as CaRFG (California reformulated gasoline), which is produced by only 13 in-state refineries.
Higher prices in the past year have brought home to the leadership just how dependent China now is on imported oil, as well as how inefficient its state refineries are.China's own depleted fields are unlikely to be able to pump out more; indeed total production will probably fall.
Corruption and mismanagement have left its four state refineries to rot, forcing this fuel-guzzling country to import up to 80% of its needs.At the heart of the rot is a controversial subsidy scheme under which the government pays wholesalers the difference between the open-market cost of fuel and a fixed pump price of 87 naira ($0.43).
Organizers said it would threaten jobs around state refineries, and that average citizens would pay $440 more for gas and utility per year.
It does not have economic benefits for us, construction is being done by people from out of state, refinery jobs created will be minimal and, due to the toxicity of Tar Sands, are also likely to be extremely dangerous to the health of the individuals working there.
The sit-in on Tuesday involved dozens of activists campaigning against the Keystone XL pipeline which would go through six states to refineries in Texas.
Keystone XL was designed to pump crude from the Alberta tar sands for 1,700 miles and across six American heartland states to refineries on the Gulf coast.
Still, the Chinese leadership has been gradually allowing fuel prices to increase, although its domestic state-run refineries still sell gasoline at a loss.
And, according to researchers at Iowa State University, the state's refineries already churn out more than five times as much of the stuff as its small stock of dairy cattle can eat.
Foreign firms can invest up to 49% in state-run refineries and 100% in private refineries.
The state grabbed refineries built by Shell and Esso and handed them to the likes of Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum.
