[Valero gas station]
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Valero Energy (VLO [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/VLO]) said Thursday it is running its 13 U.S. refineries in the U.S. and U.K. at 92%-95% [https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/valero-run-refineries-up-95-capacity-q2-2026-conf-call-2026-04-30/] of their combined total throughput capacity of 3M bbl/day, reflecting the restart of its Port Arthur refinery in Texas and the permanent closure this month of its Benicia refinery in California.
Valero's (VLO [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/VLO]) 380K bbl/day Port Arthur plant is restarting the large crude distillation unit after it was shut because of last month's explosion and fire on a hydrotreater, and the company said it expects to return the refinery to "fairly normal" production rates by May 1.
The small CDU restarted earlier this month, and several other units have returned to production, but the refinery is operating at reduced levels until the large CDU restarts, the company said.
Valero (VLO [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/VLO]) also said it has stopped producing fuels at its 145K bbl/day Benicia refinery after idling processing units through a phased approach during Q1.
The company said it expects refining margins to remain high for six months to a year after the Strait of Hormuz reopens, since that amount of time will be necessary to restore refined product inventories to pre-war levels.
Valero (VLO [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/VLO]) shares rose 0.5% on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 adjusted earnings [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4582577-valero-energy-non-gaap-eps-of-4_22-beats-by-1_06-revenue-of-32_38b-beats-by-2_51b] and revenues.
The company's refining business swung to an operating profit of $1.8B from a loss of $530M in the year-earlier quarter, refining margin rose to $14.90/bbl from $9.78/bbl, and throughput volumes increased 3.6% to 2.9M bbl/day.
MORE ON VALERO ENERGY
* Valero Energy Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4896784-valero-energy-corporation-vlo-q1-2026-earnings-call-transcript]
* Valero: Windfall Profits Lead To 14% Capital Returns [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4892374-valero-windfall-profits-lead-to-14-percent-capital-returns]
* Valero Energy: An Oil Refiner That Will Grow Even With An Open Strait of Hormuz [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4891761-valero-energy-an-oil-refiner-that-will-grow-even-with-an-open-strait-of-hormuz]
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