California oil refineries, updated 8/27/13
Oil refineries process raw crude oil into a number of industrial products, with gasoline representing about half of the total production volume.  Refineries in California are located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and the Central Valley, and each day approximately two million barrels (a barrel is equal to 42 U.S. gallons) of petroleum are processed.

"Refineries can be classified as topping, hydroskimming or complex. Topping refineries are the least sophisticated and contain only the atmospheric distillation tower and possibly a vacuum distillation tower. The topping refiner's ability to produce finished products depends on the quality of the petroleum being processed. A hydroskimming refinery has reforming and desulfurization process units in addition to basic topping units. This allows the refiner to increase the octane levels of motor gasoline and reduce the sulfur content of diesel fuel. Complex refineries are the most sophisticated refinery type and have additional process units to "crack" the heavy gas oils and distillate oils into lighter, more valuable products." (http://energyalmanac.ca.gov/petroleum/refineries.html)
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