What’s going on with CHEVRON and VALERO?

[53' Stude]

I saw a news feed that they are going with a South American country for heavy sour crude oil. Don’t know if this is good or bad. I like chevron products; never had issue with them.


I never used Valero gas, only GETGO or SHELL or EXXON near me.

 

[Chris142]

In my area every supplier pulls the base gas from the same pipe. They may or may not add addatives after loading the truck.

The terminal is in Dagge,ca
Kinder Morgan Terminal

https://share.google/fJZ08vlqfXHmwGN8W

 

[GJM120]

I think @53' Stude is talking about crude oil. If so, no surprise. A lot of US refiners use heavy sour crude from Venezuela. Often using a lighter crude will 'choke' the refinery and actually force crude runs to be cutback.

 

[53' Stude]

I think @53' Stude is talking about crude oil. If so, no surprise. A lot of US refiners use heavy sour crude from Venezuela. Often using a lighter crude will 'choke' the refinery and actually force crude runs to be cutback.

Yes I was talking about Venezuelan heavy sour crude. Takes lot more time and $$$ to refine. Always thought light sweet crude easier to refine.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Refineries are set up to run on a particular mix - whether it be light sweet or heavy sour or whatever. They can't simply switch back and forth.

So where they get the heavy sour technically doesn't matter. But they can't simply swap it for light sweet. Its not about want.

Most of the world makes heavy sour - Most of the middle east, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia come to mind. We still do also in some places. The light sweet mostly comes from Shale.

Did it say why they were going to those places? Maybe its cheaper than getting it from elsewhere? I know when Venezuela nationalized their oil fields, Chevron was the big looser. Many of those fields Chevron had developed.

 

[GJM120]

If a refiner installs units (like delayed coking = big capex) to handle a heavy sour, it's usually sub-optimal to run something else. There is some switching from hvy sour that can be done but it's a waste and can force crude runs to be reduced. Taking a plant that was designed for low sulfur crudes and running a sour sometimes just can not be done because of lack of sulfur removal units and metallurgy.

 

[k1xv]

The composition of the crude oil going into a refinery has no impact on the quality refined products coming out. Molecules are cracked, restructured, stripped of sulfur, and otherwise treated to produce refined products that conform to industry and EPA standards.

It mostly affects the refiner's cost of converting the crude into refined products, and the volumes of each kind of product the refinery is able to produce.

 

[OilStainedNapkin]

how did they know if the various crude oils are sweet or sour?

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

IIRC, and it’s been 20+ years, but sweet or sour is related to the sulfur content. If a refinery doesn’t have a sulfur unit, it probably restricts the % of sulfur that can be removed, and therefore limits which type of oil they can run efficiently.

 

[53' Stude]

Refineries are set up to run on a particular mix - whether it be light sweet or heavy sour or whatever. They can't simply switch back and forth.


Not really why but it’s happening

https://www.reuters.com/business/en...nezuela-after-us-license-shipping-2025-08-07/

So where they get the heavy sour technically doesn't matter. But they can't simply swap it for light sweet. It’s not about want.

Most of the world makes heavy sour - Most of the middle east, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia come to mind. We still do also in some places. The light sweet mostly comes from Shale.

Did it say why they were going to those places? Maybe its cheaper than getting it from elsewhere? I know when Venezuela nationalized their oil fields, Chevron was the big looser. Many of those fields Chevron had developed.

 

[GJM120]

Interesting tidbit on the light-sweet and heavy-sour crude history - US crude oil exports were prohibited from the mid 1970's after the 1973-74 embargo. The ban was lifted in 2015. One of the reasons for removing the ban was refineries in the US just couldn't handle all the crudes coming from shale plays like the Eagle Ford. Those crudes were light low sulfur.

 

[Sedin26]

how did they know if the various crude oils are sweet or sour?

A quick sip will do it. Keep some light crude on hand to cleanse the palate if your sample happens to be sour!

 

[53' Stude]

Here’s questions of day: would refineries even use some used oil also?

Thank You