Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

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, 2020 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2020. As discussed in Note 2, the outbreak of COVID-19 and its development into a pandemic in March 2020 resulted in significant economic disruption globally. This disruption became more acute in the latter half of March 2020. While demand and market prices for most of our products increased during the second and third quarters of 2020 compared to the end of the first quarter of 2020, developments with respect to COVID-19 have been occurring at a rapid pace and the risk remains that circumstances could change. For instance, beginning in the latter part of the second quarter of 2020, certain governmental authorities in the U.S. and other countries across the world began lifting many of the restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. However, many locations where restrictions were lifted, and others where the restrictions were only more moderately lifted (such as California in our U.S. West Coast region, and New York, Canada, and the United Kingdom (U.K.) in our North Atlantic region), have experienced a resurgence in the spread of COVID-19 prompting many governmental authorities to reimpose certain restrictions. Therefore, our operating results for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 do not fully reflect the impact this disruption will likely continue to have on us.

The balance sheet as of December 31, 2019 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, 2019.

Reclassifications

Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the 2020 presentation. The changes were due to (i) the reclassification of amounts for income taxes receivable from prepaid expenses and other to “receivables, net” in the consolidated balance sheets and (ii) the reclassification of amounts for repayments of debt and finance lease obligations from “other financing activities, net” in the consolidated statements of cash flows.

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.

Adoption of Accounting Pronouncements

We adopted the following Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs) on January 1, 2020. Our adoption of these ASUs did not have a material impact on our financial statements or related disclosures.


ASU		Basis of Adoption
2016-13	Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (including codification improvements in ASUs 2018-19 and 2019-11 and ASU 2020-02— Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 119)	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	Prospectively
2019-12	Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes	Prospectively

The following ASU was issued on and adopted by us on March 12, 2020. Our adoption of this ASU did not have a material impact on our financial statements or related disclosures.


ASU		Basis of Adoption
2020-04	Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting	Prospectively

Variable interest entities

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

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 14), as summarized below under “Fair Values of Derivative Instruments.” The effect of these derivative instruments on our income and other comprehensive income (loss) is summarized below under “Effect of Derivative Instruments on Income and Other Comprehensive Income (Loss).”

Derivative instruments collateral requirements

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