When US Gasoline Has to Leave the Country to Move Within It

Colin Grabow

Amid the recent shutdown of a refinery and looming closure of another, California is grappling with how to replace lost in-state fuel production. Logically, one obvious source would be refineries on the US Gulf Coast, home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of refining capacity. Yet according to a recent Bloomberg report, California is instead importing gasoline that first detours through the Bahamas.

The explanation for this curious, circuitous trade is not geography...