Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

1. BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

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 of our results for the three months ended March 31, 2021 have been included. All such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature unless disclosed otherwise. Operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2021 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2021. The financial statements presented herein should be read in conjunction with the financial statements included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 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. Developments with respect to COVID-19 have been occurring at a rapid pace and the risk remains that circumstances could change. Demand for and market prices of most of our products began to improve during the latter half of 2020 and continued to improve throughout the first quarter of 2021. These improvements resulted primarily from the lifting or easing of restrictions by many governmental authorities, especially those in our U.S. Gulf Coast and U.S. Mid-Continent regions, in response to decreasing COVID-19 infection rates and increasing numbers of people receiving COVID-19 vaccines, which were approved by a number of regulators throughout the world in late 2020 and early 2021. While many governmental authorities in areas located in our U.S. West Coast and North Atlantic regions, such as California, Canada, and the United Kingdom (U.K.), continue to impose restrictions, some of these restrictions have been or are soon expected to be moderately lifted. The ongoing distribution of vaccines may result in the continued lifting of restrictions and may be seen as a key factor in helping to restore public confidence, and thus stimulate and increase economic activity, potentially to pre-pandemic levels; however, the risk remains that the vaccines may not be distributed widely on a timely basis, they may not be effective against new variants of the COVID-19 virus, the distribution of some or all of the vaccines may be paused or withdrawn due to concerns with potential side effects, and/or the level of individuals’ willingness to receive a vaccine may not be as strong or as timely as needed. Based on these and other circumstances that cannot be predicted, the broader implications of the pandemic on our results of operations and financial position remain uncertain.

The balance sheet as of December 31, 2020 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, 2020.

Reclassifications

Certain prior year amounts presented in Note 11 have been reclassified to conform to the 2021 presentation. The change was due to the reclassification of amounts for income taxes receivable from prepaid expenses and other to “receivables, net.”

Significant Accounting Policies

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 Pronouncement

The following Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Update (ASU) was issued and adopted by us on January 7, 2021. Our adoption of this ASU did not have a material impact on our financial statements or related disclosures.


ASU		Basis of Adoption
2021-01	Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Scope	Prospectively