Valero Says Fuel Margins Set to Keep Rising Despite Washington's Price-Cut Push

Valero Energy says its fuel-making margins are poised to keep climbing even as Washington pushes measures aimed at bringing down gasoline and diesel prices for consumers. The refiner's comments came alongside a record quarterly profit of $6.8 billion, driven by a refining margin per barrel of throughput that jumped to $39.24, up from $13.14 a year earlier.

A historically strong quarter for refiners

The third quarter has turned into an unusually profitable stretch for US refiners broadly, as fuel production became a key pinch-point amid wider disruptions to energy markets tied to the US-Iran war and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Those supply pressures have kept refining margins elevated even as policymakers look for ways to ease prices at the pump.

Valero's results suggest the gap between political pressure to lower fuel costs and the market forces actually setting them is likely to persist in the near term. With global supply disruptions still unresolved, refiners like Valero are positioned to keep capturing wide margins between what they pay for crude and what they charge for finished fuel, regardless of efforts in Washington to narrow that spread.