How to Read EIA's Refinery Capacity Report — Operable Refineries, Calendar vs Stream Days and Shutdowns

As of 4 November 2026, 00:48 KST; most recently published report: the Refinery Capacity Report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), with data as of January 1, 2026 from Form EIA-820. The report page, checked at 00:48 KST, shows a release date of June 26, 2026 and a next release date of June 2027; the sources used give no time of day. Primary source: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/refinerycapacity/table6.pdf^[1][2][3]

Comparison basis: the table above uses Table 6, which is in thousand barrels per stream day; Table 1 gives the January 1, 2026 detail in barrels per calendar day and per stream day, and Table 11 gives refinery shutdowns in barrels per calendar day (crude distillation) and per stream day (downstream units). This page's calculated changes for the selected rows are rounded half up to one decimal. Each row compares January 1 with January 1, so the previous and year-ago columns are the same comparison. The page and tables are EIA publications and count as one source.^[1][2][3][4]

In three lines

1. EIA's annual Refinery Capacity Report counts operable U.S. refineries and their crude oil distillation and downstream processing capacity as of January 1.
2. On January 1, 2026 there were 130 operable refineries (128 operating, 2 idle) with 18,160,493 barrels per calendar day of crude distillation capacity.
3. In stream-day terms, crude distillation capacity was 19,157 thousand barrels per day, 337 thousand (1.7%) below a year earlier.^[2][3]

Table 1 lists 130 operable refineries on January 1, 2026: 128 operating and 2 idle, with idle refineries defined as: "Refineries where distillation units were completely idle but not permanently shutdown on January 1, 2026." Table 1 reports 34,000 barrels per calendar day in its idle-capacity column; its footnote says: "Includes capacity from refineries that are either completely or partially idle." So that column can include capacity at partially idle refineries, not only at the 2 completely idle ones.^[2]

Table 11 lists two refinery shutdowns during 2025: Houston Refining LP in Houston, Texas (263,776 barrels per calendar day of crude distillation capacity, last operated in February 2025) and the Phillips 66 Company refinery in Los Angeles, California (138,700 barrels per calendar day, last operated in October 2025). The dates shown are in the date-of-last-operation column; EIA Table 11 does not give a shutdown month. It lists no new or reactivated refineries for 2025.^[4]

Table 6 also shows projected capacity for January 1, 2027 of 19,162 thousand barrels per stream day for crude distillation, labelled: "Projected data from refiners."^[3]

Calendar day vs stream day. Table 1 gives U.S. crude distillation capacity as 18,160,493 barrels per calendar day and 19,157,174 barrels per stream day on January 1, 2026; the stream-day figure is the one carried into Table 6 (19,157 thousand). EIA's glossary defines barrels per calendar day as "The amount of input that a distillation facility can process under usual operating conditions." and lists reductions for scheduled and unscheduled downtime, among other limitations; it defines barrels per stream day as "The maximum number of barrels of input that a distillation facility can process within a 24-hour period when running at full capacity under optimal crude and product slate conditions with no allowance for downtime." Comparisons should use the same unit throughout, which is why the key table uses Table 6 only.^[2][3][5]

Shutdowns vs the year's capacity change. The two 2025 shutdowns in Table 11 total 402,476 barrels per calendar day (this page's calculation), while Table 6 shows a 337 thousand barrels per stream day decline in crude distillation capacity. The two use different units and the year's change also reflects capacity changes at other refineries, so the shutdown total and the net change should not be expected to match.^[3][4]

Regions vs the U.S. total. PAD District III had 9,876,563 barrels per calendar day, 54.4% of U.S. crude distillation capacity, and Texas alone 6,134,650, 33.8% (this page's calculations).^[2]

Long-run comparison and projection. January 1, 2026 crude distillation capacity of 19,157 thousand barrels per stream day was 935 thousand (4.7%) below the January 1, 2020 level of 20,092 (this page's calculations). The January 1, 2027 figure of 19,162 is projected by refiners, not a measured level. "Totals may not equal sum of components due to independent rounding." "The EIA-820 refinery capacity survey was not conducted for January 1, 1996 or January 1, 1998." The cited page and tables do not provide a numeric error measure.^[3]