"This was Valero's best fourth-quarter earnings per share since 2005, and we made important progress on our strategic goals," said Valero Chairman and CEO Bill Klesse. "In the fourth quarter, we had a smooth start-up of our new hydrocracker at the Port Arthur refinery, which was the largest project in Valero's history. We also continued construction on our St. Charles hydrocracker, which is scheduled for start-up in the second quarter of 2013. We believe these projects are perfectly suited for the current environment of strong distillate margins and inexpensive natural gas."
Klesse continued, "Also in the fourth quarter of 2012, we replaced all imported light foreign crude oils with cheaper domestic crude oils at our Gulf Coast and Memphis refineries. Since we expect U.S. and Canadian crude oils to become increasingly more available, we are pursuing options to process additional volumes of these cost-advantaged crudes throughout our refining system."
