A fuel maker that earns on the gap
Valero Energy is a refiner: it buys feedstocks such as crude oil and corn, processes them into transportation fuels, and earns most of its money from the gap between what those inputs cost and what the finished fuel sells for. Customers pay for dependable fuel supply, not raw commodities, and Valero reaches them through third-party outlets and other fuel buyers rather than its own stations. The work splits into three parts: conventional Refining, which dominates, plus smaller Renewable Diesel and Ethanol businesses. In the quarter ended June 30, 2026, it produced $44.5 billion of revenue, with $42.3 billion of that coming from Refining.