Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

General

The terms “Valero,” “we,” “our,” and “us,” as used in this report, may refer to Valero Energy Corporation, one or more of its consolidated subsidiaries, or all of them taken as a whole.

These unaudited financial statements have been prepared in accordance with United States (U.S.) generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and notes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. All such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature unless disclosed otherwise. Operating results for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2019.

The balance sheet as of December 31, 2018 has been derived from our audited financial statements as of that date. For further information, refer to our financial statements and notes thereto included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Reclassifications

Reclassifications

Effective January 1, 2019, we revised our reportable segments to reflect a new reportable segment — renewable diesel. The renewable diesel segment includes the operations of Diamond Green Diesel Holdings LLC (DGD), our consolidated joint venture as discussed in Note 8, which were transferred from the refining segment. Also effective January 1, 2019, we no longer have a VLP segment, and we now include the operations of Valero Energy Partners LP and its consolidated subsidiaries (VLP) in our refining segment. Our prior period segment information has been retrospectively adjusted to reflect our current segment presentation. See Note 2 regarding our merger with VLP, which occurred on January 10, 2019, and Note 11 for segment information.

Certain prior year amounts in the consolidated statement of cash flows have been reclassified to conform to the 2019 presentation.

Use of Estimates

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from those estimates. On an ongoing basis, we review our estimates based on currently available information. Changes in facts and circumstances may result in revised estimates.

Leases

Leases

Background

We adopted the provisions of Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 842, “Leases,” (Topic 842) on January 1, 2019, as described below in “Accounting Pronouncements Adopted on January 1, 2019.” Accordingly, our lease accounting policy has been revised to reflect the adoption of this standard.

Revised Policy

We evaluate if a contract is or contains a lease at inception of the contract. If we determine that a contract is or contains a lease, we recognize a right-of-use (ROU) asset and lease liability at the commencement date of the lease based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. The present value of the lease payments is determined by using the implicit rate when readily determinable, or if not, our incremental borrowing rate for a term similar to the duration of the lease based on information available at the commencement date. Lease terms include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that we will exercise those options.

We recognize ROU assets and lease liabilities for leasing arrangements with terms greater than one year. Except for the marine transportation asset class, we account for lease and non-lease components in a contract as a single lease component for all classes of underlying assets. Our marine transportation contracts include non-lease components such as maintenance and crew costs. We allocate the consideration in these contracts based on pricing information provided by the third-party broker.

Expense for an operating lease is recognized as a single lease cost on a straight-line basis over the lease term and reflected in the appropriate income statement line item based on the leased asset’s function. Amortization expense of a finance lease ROU asset is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lesser of the useful life of the leased asset or the lease term and is reflected in “depreciation and amortization expense.” Interest expense is incurred based on the carrying value of the lease liability and is reflected in “interest and debt expense, net of capitalized interest.”

New Accounting Pronouncements

Accounting Pronouncements Adopted on January 1, 2019

Topic 842

As previously noted, we adopted the provisions of Topic 842 on January 1, 2019. Topic 842 increases the transparency and comparability among organizations by recognizing lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet and disclosing key information about leasing arrangements. Topic 842 supersedes previous lease accounting requirements under FASB ASC Topic 840, “Leases,” (Topic 840). We adopted Topic 842 using the optional transition method that permits us to apply the new disclosure requirements beginning in 2019 and continue to present comparative period information as required under Topic 840; however, we did not have a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings at the date of adoption.

In addition, we elected the transition practical expedient package that permits us to not reassess our prior conclusions about lease identification, lease classification, and initial direct costs under the new standard, as well as the practical expedient that permits us to not assess existing land easements under the new standard. See “Leases” above for a discussion of our accounting policy affected by our adoption of Topic 842. Also see Note 4 for information on our leases.

In preparation for the adoption of Topic 842, we enhanced our contracting and lease evaluation systems and related processes, and we developed a new lease accounting system to capture our leases and support the required disclosures. We integrated our lease accounting system with our general ledger and modified our related procurement and payment processes.

Adoption of this standard resulted in (i) the recognition of ROU assets and lease liabilities for our operating leases of $1.3 billion, (ii) the derecognition of existing assets under construction of $539 million related to

a build-to-suit lease arrangement with respect to the MVP Terminal (see Note 6 under “Commitments—MVP Terminal”), and (iii) the presentation of new disclosures about our leasing activities beginning in the first quarter of 2019. Adoption of this standard did not impact our results of operations or liquidity, and our accounting for finance leases is substantially unchanged.

Other

In addition to the adoption of Topic 842 discussed above, we adopted the following Accounting Standards Update (ASU) during the nine months ended September 30, 2019. Our adoption of this ASU did not affect our financial statements or related disclosures.

ASU		Adoption Date	Basis of Adoption
2017-12	Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities	January 1, 2019	Cumulative effect

Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted

The following ASUs have not yet been adopted and are not expected to have a material impact on our financial statements or related disclosures.

ASU		Expected Adoption Date	Basis of Adoption
2016-13	Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments	January 1, 2020	Cumulative effect
2018-15	Intangibles—Goodwill and Other—Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract	January 1, 2020	Prospectively
2018-17	Consolidation (Topic 810): Targeted Improvements to Related Party Guidance for Variable Interest Entities	January 1, 2020	Cumulative effect

Variable interest entities

We hold variable interests in VIEs that have not been consolidated because we are not considered the primary beneficiary. These non-consolidated VIEs are not material to our financial position or results of operations and are accounted for as equity investments.

We consolidate a VIE when we have a variable interest in an entity for which we are the primary beneficiary.

Offsetting fair value amounts of commodity derivative contracts

We have elected to offset the fair value amounts recognized for multiple similar derivative contracts executed with the same counterparty, including any related cash collateral assets or obligations as shown below; however, fair value amounts by hierarchy level are presented in the following tables on a gross basis. We have no derivative contracts that are subject to master netting arrangements that are reflected gross on the balance sheet.

Derivatives

We are exposed to market risks primarily related to the volatility in the price of commodities, foreign currency exchange rates, and the price of credits needed to comply with various government and regulatory programs. We enter into derivative instruments to manage some of these risks, including derivative instruments related to the various commodities we purchase or produce, and foreign currency exchange and purchase contracts, as described below under “Risk Management Activities by Type of Risk.” These derivative instruments are recorded as either assets or liabilities measured at their fair values (see Note 13), as summarized below under “Fair Values of Derivative Instruments.” The effect of these derivative instruments on our income is summarized below under “Effect of Derivative Instruments on Income.”

Derivative instruments collateral requirements

We do not require any collateral or other security to support derivative instruments into which we enter.