California’s Energy Loophole is Funding Russia’s War

Did you know that each time you fill up your gas tank, some of that money flows straight to Russia, helping finance Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine?

In 2021, the year before Russia attacked Ukraine, California bought 18.3 million barrels of oil from Russia. In 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom called for California to divest from Russia. At that point, California stopped importing Russian oil directly, but a loophole remains.

Because California has weakened its own oil and gas industry, refinery capacity has decreased, and dependence on foreign oil and gasoline has increased. As a result, California now imports refined products like gasoline that come from Russian oil.

Here is how it works. India and other countries buy Russian oil, refine it into gasoline, and then sell it to California. Once refined, it no longer counts as “Russian,” but the money still ends up in Moscow. California consumers are unknowingly helping Putin fund his war machine every time they fill up.

The numbers tell the story. In August 2025, California imported 39,000 barrels per day of gasoline and blending components from India, marking the highest level in over a year. Meanwhile, India has become the largest buyer of Russian oil since Western sanctions began.

This crisis is self-inflicted. Over the past decade, as California’s oil demand has increased, in-state production has been cut nearly in half. There are over a thousand oil permits gathering dust at a state bureaucratic office, while legislation like Senate Bill 1137 tries to shut down 15,000 wells. This is happening while California is losing refineries, with two more in Los Angeles and Benicia set to close soon.

Today, California imports 78 percent of its oil, costing $25 billion each year. Each imported barrel carries a $5 to $7 surcharge that appears at the pump, pushing already record-high gas prices even higher.

The hypocrisy should outrage every Californian. We pay the highest gas taxes and the highest prices in the nation, while importing oil from the Amazon rainforest, the Middle East, and now indirectly from Russia.

It does not have to be this way. Instead of sending our dollars to Moscow and OPEC, California should produce and refine oil at home under the strictest environmental, labor, and safety standards in the world. Doing so would keep $25 billion a year in our economy, support 55,000 good-paying jobs, and strengthen our energy security.

California should power California.

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Hector Barajas is the founder of Amplify360 Inc., a public affairs and strategic communications firm with offices in Sacramento and Los Angeles, advising companies and associations on legislative, regulatory, and political issues across California.

X: @HectorMBarajas

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