U.S. Refinery Capacity Fell 263,000 Barrels per Day in 2025

U.S. refinery capacity fell by about 263,000 barrels per day in 2025 as major plant closures outweighed additions elsewhere, reducing the country’s capacity to process crude oil into fuels such as gasoline and diesel.

Operable capacity stood at 18.16 million barrels per calendar day on Jan. 1, 2026, down from 18.42 million a year earlier. The figures measure how much crude oil refineries can process, not their actual output or the amount of fuel available to consumers.

LyondellBasell stopped processing crude at its Houston refinery during the first quarter of 2025. The refinery had capacity of 263,776 barrels per calendar day. Phillips 66 stopped operations at its Los Angeles refinery in October 2025; it had capacity of 138,700 barrels per calendar day.

Together, the two closures removed roughly 402,000 barrels per day of capacity. Additions at other existing refineries partly offset that loss, leaving the national year-over-year decline smaller than the capacity removed by the shutdowns.

The effects varied by region. The Los Angeles closure reduced West Coast refinery capacity by about 5%, even as the national total reflected changes across the country.

The capacity decline comes alongside a distinction in U.S. energy trade. U.S. crude imports averaged 6.2 million barrels per day in 2025, leaving net crude imports of 2.2 million barrels per day. Yet the United States was a net exporter of petroleum overall, a measure that includes crude oil and refined products.