Chevron and five of California’s largest oil refiners have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging they conspired to inflate gas prices across the state, arguing in court filings that the case rests on a “nonsensical” conspiracy theory with no factual grounding.
The nearly 50-page motion was filed March 26 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The original class action complaint was filed in November 2025 by Consumer Watchdog and two law firms.
The suit claims the oil companies orchestrated a scheme to artificially raise gasoline prices by misrepresenting costs tied to California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program. Specifically, plaintiffs allege the companies began billing consumers about 7 cents per gallon in LCFS-related costs starting January 1, 2025, even though the stricter LCFS amendments at issue did not take effect until July 1, 2025.
Chevron’s legal team rejected the theory outright. “Plaintiffs’ conspiracy theory also fails because it is nonsensical,” the motion states, as quoted by the New York Post. “If the goal was to conspiratorially increase prices, Defendants could have just raised their prices. There is no need for the convoluted, roundabout mechanism Plaintiffs invent here.”
The motion also argues that plaintiffs failed to plead any actual prices set by any defendant and cannot show parallel pricing behavior that would indicate coordination.
The other defendants named in the case are Valero Marketing and Supply Company, PBF Energy Inc., Martinez Refining Company LLC, Torrance Refining Company LLC, Marathon Petroleum Company LP, and Phillips 66 Company. Together, those six companies control roughly 97 percent of California’s gasoline supply.
The filing comes as California gas prices average nearly $6 per gallon statewide, with Los Angeles County pushing above $6. California consistently records the highest gas prices in the contiguous United States, driven in part by the state’s unique fuel blend requirements and a cascading series of refinery closures.
Valero’s Benicia refinery has announced plans to cease refining operations by the end of April 2026. Phillips 66 closed its Los Angeles refinery in late 2025. The exits have further tightened supply in a market where only a handful of producers operate, leaving California drivers with fewer competitive options and little price relief in sight.
Chevron separately restarted production at a shuttered offshore oil field earlier this year, following nearly 15 years of inactivity caused by an oil spill.
