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Variable Interest Entities (Details) $ in Millions	9 Months Ended
Variable Interest Entities (Details) $ in Millions	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($) refineries	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)
Assets
Cash and temporary cash investments	$ 5,949	$ 4,114	$ 5,301	$ 3,689
Property, plant, and equipment, net	26,518	26,703
Liabilities
Current liabilities	8,224	6,994
Debt and capital lease obligations, less current portion	$ 7,888	7,208
Variable Interest Entity (Textual)
Number of refineries impacted by VLP operations \| refineries	10
Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary [Member]
Assets
Cash and temporary cash investments	$ 175	132
Other current assets	85	211
Property, plant, and equipment, net	1,344	1,243
Liabilities
Current liabilities	35	43
Debt and capital lease obligations, less current portion	572	175
Valero Energy Partners LP [Member]
Assets
Cash and temporary cash investments	35	81
Other current assets	4	0
Property, plant, and equipment, net	854	747
Liabilities
Current liabilities	11	13
Debt and capital lease obligations, less current portion	$ 524	175
Valero Energy Partners LP [Member] \| Limited Partner [Member]
Variable Interest Entity (Textual)
Ownership percentage	66.60%
Valero Energy Partners LP [Member] \| General Partner [Member]
Variable Interest Entity (Textual)
Ownership percentage	2.00%
Diamond Green Diesel Holdings LLC [Member]
Assets
Cash and temporary cash investments	$ 121	44
Other current assets	81	211
Property, plant, and equipment, net	354	356
Liabilities
Current liabilities	17	12
Debt and capital lease obligations, less current portion	$ 0	0
Variable Interest Entity (Textual)
Ownership percentage	50.00%
Maximum percentage of joint venture construction costs financed	60.00%
Other Variable Interest Entities [Member]
Assets
Cash and temporary cash investments	$ 19	7
Other current assets	0	0
Property, plant, and equipment, net	136	140
Liabilities
Current liabilities	7	18
Debt and capital lease obligations, less current portion	$ 48	$ 0
Variable Interest Entity (Textual)
Ownership percentage	50.00%
Valero Energy Partners LP - Public Unitholders [Member] \| Limited Partner [Member]
Variable Interest Entity (Textual)
Ownership percentage	31.40%