Pursuant to section 95489(c)(3)(B) of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Regulation, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Executive Officer has posted the final 2017 Crude Average Carbon Intensity calculation: 12.52 CI (gCO₂e/MJ).

The 2019 CI is up from 2018 (12.35) and from 2017 (11.93); volume delivered to California refineries was down, however: 584,313,143 barrels in 2019, versus 624,127,435 in 2018 and 621,246,732 in 2017.

Data: CARB

The three-year California Crude Average carbon intensity of 12.26 gCO₂e/MJ is greater than the California Baseline Crude Average carbon intensity of 11.85 gCO₂e/MJ plus 0.10 gCO₂e/MJ. Therefore, pursuant to the LCFS regulation, incremental deficits for CARBOB or diesel will be added to each affected regulated party’s compliance obligation for the annual compliance period of 2021.

California gets the largest portion of its crude from itself: 155,785,058 barrels in 2019, or 27% of the total. The rest of the US and 11 other countries supply the bulk of the remainder.

One of the largest changes between 2018 and 2019 was a major increase in the import of Iraq crude: from 30,808,908 barrels in 2018 to 56,764,587 barrels in 2019. All the other major sources of crude declined, with the exception of Ecuador, which increased 18.7% from 53,444,960 to 63,459,582 barrels.

Imports from Saudi Arabia plunged 31.4% in 2019 from 2018, to 88,184,212 barrels.