BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 People who work in California\u2019s oil industry, from the board room to the oil patch, hope that the war in Iran is ringing the alarm bell for policy makers in Sacramento. As gas prices soar, so do fears that the industry that powers the state may run out of fuel.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s deeply troubled right now in California, it\u2019s so adversarial. It\u2019s like the state is trying to shut us down,\u201d said Ross Allen, a media consultant with Chevron.<\/p>\n
Bakersfield economist worried about ongoing Iran conflict <\/a><\/p>\n The war in Iran has been described as a wakeup call from members of the oil industry amid the closure of prominent refineries like the Phillips 66 refinery in Los Angeles and the Valero facility in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n In 2025, more than 60% of California\u2019s oil usage came from foreign countries \u2014 a reliance many say needs to go.<\/p>\n \u201cAll these things increase costs and make the policy environment very difficult for us to do what we do,\u201d said Allen. \u201cCalifornia has a world-class energy industry but, unfortunately, the Sacramento folks and politicians want to make that less available and less efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n Companies like Chevron have considered moving out of state to places like Texas for less state regulations. Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton<\/a> sent letters to the head of prominent oil companies urging them to stay in California \u2014 if he wins the governor\u2019s race.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve written to the oil companies, the CEOs of the big energy companies in California, saying to them, just give me eight months. If I can win the governor\u2019s race in November, it\u2019ll be a whole new day for our energy industry,\u201d said Hilton.<\/p>\n But not just the companies are feeling the impacts of this hit on the energy sector. Tyrone Taylor has worked for years in the oil field and recently became one of 90 people laid off.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really has gone downhill, man. And most are also workers. But we get a job for a couple of two years and then we\u2019re all laid off and then we\u2019re back in the streets again trying to find a job to go to,\u201d Taylor says.<\/p>\n