page_title: South Bay (Los Angeles County)
section_title: Oil refining
hierarchical_section_title: South Bay (Los Angeles County) / Major employers / Oil refining
caption_attribution_description: English: An aerial view of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and surrounding South Bay region, Los Angeles County, Southern California. The city of Los Angeles, California is seen in the distance (north); Santa Monica Bay on the left (west); and San Pedro Bay—Los Angeles Harbor on the upper-right (east). Kapampangan: Ing akakit king Palos Verdes Telapulu kambe ning Los Angeles keng makarayu
context_page_description: The South Bay is a region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, located in the southwest corner of Los Angeles County. The name stems from its geographic location stretching along the southern shore of Santa Monica Bay. The South Bay contains fifteen cities plus portions of the City of Los Angeles and unincorporated portions of the county. The area is bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the south and west and generally by the City of Los Angeles on the north and east.
context_section_description: Petroleum refining is another important component of the South Bay's economy. Major South Bay refiners include Tesoro (ARCO facility in Carson), Chevron (El Segundo), Phillips 66 (Wilmington), PBF Energy (Torrance), Tesoro (Wilmington), and Valero (Wilmington).  These refiners supply the lion's share of petroleum products for Southern California, as well as for Nevada and Arizona.  As the Los Angeles region's oil fields are mostly exhausted, most of the crude oil that feeds the refineries is brought in from terminals at the port.
  Local politicians and activists have long denounced the refineries for the amount of air pollution they generate, but in recent years these protests have been muted as the Port of Los Angeles has become the region's dominant polluter. The controversial practice of residue flaring returned to the forefront during the September 12, 2005 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power outage; facing dangerous pressure buildups, refinery operators in Wilmington were forced to flare, resulting in dangerously bad air quality throughout the southeastern South Bay.  The incident has renewed calls for restrictions on flaring in non-emergency situations.
caption: View of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Los Angeles in the distance.
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