NEW YORK (Reuters) -Phillips 66 will begin shuttering its 139,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Los Angeles-area refinery in September, people familiar with the matter said.

The Los Angeles-area refinery will begin winding down operations for permanent closure as early as next week, two sources said.

Phillips 66 announced last year it would close the facility and begin winding down operations by October 2025.

"The refinery units will begin idling by Q4 2025 as planned... our timeline remains unchanged," a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement on Thursday. The company did not provide a more detailed timeline but noted that the process of idling the facilities requires a complex, multi-phased approach.

The company is expected to lay off most workers at the refinery in December. The Los Angeles-area facility has about 600 employees and 300 contractors. Over half of the employees are hourly workers represented by the United Steelworkers Union.

The company declined to comment on the status of our employees.