Journal of Advanced Research in Social Sciences and Humanities Volume 5, Issue 1 (38-52) DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.26500/JARSSH-05-2020-0105 Valero energy corporation case study RETHA J. MATTERN, ZHI YANG BRIAN CHAN, JAMES ONDRACEK ∗, ANDY BERTSCH, M. SAEED 1, 2, 3, 4 Minot State University, Minot, North Dakota 5 University Tun Abdul Razak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Abstract Aim: The study’s aim is to deeply investigate Valero Energy Corporation’s operations. Established in 1980, Valero Energy Corporation (Valero) is currently one of the biggest petroleum refiners in the oil and gas industry both in the United States and internationally. Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, Valero owns 15 petroleum refineries and 14 ethanol plants. Method: Valero Energy Corporation’s operations were closely examined using a case-analysis technique. Findings: The current study results depict that Valero Energy Corporation faces challenges in the industry’s midstream and downstream sector and emphasizes external factors such as weather and geopolitical influences. The prices of crude oil are stabilizing but uncertainty in the market and the slowdown of economic growth internationally will remain a challenge for Valero Energy Corporation in the short-term future. Companies in the oil and gas sector will continue to enforce capital discipline as a long-term strategy to prepare them for the economic uncertainty ahead and unsteady industry conditions. Valero’s strategic acquisitions and divestitures have helped the company through tough times in the past, but is Valero’s mix of assets appropriate today? Implications/Novel Contribution: Valero Energy Corporation Case Study is suitable for undergraduate and graduates business students to apply critical thinking, qualitative and quantitative analyses, and decision making. The case study features Valero Energy Corporation its quest for relevance and above-average returns. Keywords: Case study, Strategic management, Valero energy corporation Received: 13 September 2019 / Accepted: 20 November 2019 / Published: 10 February 2020 INTRODUCTION Firm and Industry Valero Energy Corporation is an independent petroleum refiner, marketer, and ethanol producer. The organi- zation has three segments which include refining, ethanol, and Valero Energy Partners (VLP). Valero is based in San Antonio, Texas and employs approximately 10,261 people (Valero Energy Partners). The refining segment for Valero includes refining operations and marketing activities while the ethanol segment includes ethanol operations, marketing activities, and logistics assets which provides support for its ethanol operations (Reuters, 2019). Some of the logistics assets that Valero owns include crude oil pipelines, refined petroleum product pipelines, terminals, tanks, marine docks, and truck rack bays which provide a support system for its refining segment (Khakimyanov & Khusainov, 2016; Reuters, 2019). Valero Refining and Marketing Company changed its name to Valero Energy Corporation in August 1997. Valero Energy Corporation was founded in 1980 as a direct result of a $1.6 billion settlement approved by the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulated natural gas in the state. Now a Fortune 50 company, Valero has expanded from its original natural gas business after purchasing an interest in a crude oil refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, and subsequently began to acquire additional refineries. Today, the company now operates in retail and wholesale markets, offering Valero branded fuels throughout the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland (Valero Marketing and Supply Company, 2018; Yoshino & Alekhina, 2016). ∗Corresponding author: James Ondracek yEmail: [email protected] c 2020 The Author(s). Published by JARSSH. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Mattern et al., / Valero energy corporation Valero owns 15 petroleum refineries with a combined capacity of 3.1 million barrels per day and owns 14 ethanol plants with a combined capacity of about 1.73 billion gallons per year (Valero Marketing and Supply Company, 2018). The company’s petroleum refineries are located throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, while the company’s ethanol facilities are concentrated in the central part of the U.S. The company has a stated mission to provide quality products that are indispensable to everyday life while investing in flexible and efficient manufacturing, renewable fuels, and infrastructure to meet today’s needs while also preparing for future energy markets (Valero Energy Corporation, 2017a). Valero Energy Corporation added ethanol segment to its portfolio in March 2009 by announcing the ac- quisition of seven ethanol plants from VeraSun Energy for approximately $477 million to reduce the impact from an excess production of biofuel and a fall in gasoline consumption (Krauss, 2009). Valero Energy also purchase three ethanol plants from Green Plains Inc. in 2018 but decided to shut down two of the three ethanol plants due an overproduction in biofuel in 2019 (Hirtzer & Almeida, 2019). Overall, Valero Energy contin- ues to grow and expand its assets, most recently completing the expansion of a Green Diesel plant in Louisiana in 2018 and expanding a refinery in Houston in the first part of 2019 (Valero Marketing and Supply Company, 2018). Oil and Gas Refining and Marketing Industry Valero Energy is operating in the energy sector under oil and gas refining and marketing industry. The oil and gas industry is influenced on a global scale. There are external environmental forces that can affect the oil and gas industry such as the influence from OPEC, United States, and Russia. Crude oil can be produced domestically or imported, and the prices for crude oil can be volatile and uncertain due to geopolitical influence. These factors affect other companies operating in this industry such as Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Phillips 66, and Chevron Corporation. An example of external environmental influence is when OPEC decides to reduce production to increase crude oil prices, the effects can be felt by all of these companies that are operating in the oil and gas industry. The global economy has a relationship when it comes to the oil and gas industry. When a country is doing well, individuals would have more spending power which would then increase the sales of oil and gas products. When there is a recession, individuals will choose to reduce consumption in oil and gas products by utilizing public transports or carpool to reduce the amount spent due to low spending power. Industry Structural Characteristics The oil and gas industry can be divided into three areas: upstream, midstream, and downstream. Upstream oil and gas production is for companies to identify deposits, drill wells, as well as to recover raw materials for determining the suitability for drilling. Companies in this segment can be referred to as exploration and production companies, and include companies with operations in machinery rental, rig operations, and feasibility studies (Kramer, 2019). Companies such as China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Schlumberger are specific companies that focuses only on upstream. Downstream oil and gas production companies are those that apply processes to petroleum products after the point of production and supply them to end-users and consumers with a refined product. Those refined products include diesel, natural gas, gasoline, heating oil, lubricants, pesticides, and propane. They may also engage in the marketing and distribution of crude oil and natural gas products. Downstream companies include refiners like Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66. The midstream segment includes operators who link the upstream and downstream portions. Midstream companies are the ones who handles resource transportation and storage services by using pipelines and gathering systems. This includes companies with pipelines and gathering systems (Kramer, 2019). Many companies in oil and gas operations are considered integrated, which means they combine the func- tions of two or three of the areas (Kramer, 2019). Companies with integrated operations from upstream and downstream units include Chevron and ExxonMobil. Many of these companies also own convenience stores as part of their distribution networks. Valero Energy does not operate in the upstream division but is involved in both midstream and downstream aspects. Marathon Petroleum is also an integrated company. 39 Mattern et al., / Valero energy corporation EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT Companies such as Valero and its peers would face similar external environment risks that can cause delays in their day to day operations. These risks can be divided in five categories of risks. Table 1: Environmental risks Risks Effects Political Risk - Sudden change in regulatory environment in a foreign country due to political shift in the host country. - Original deal may not hold up as foreign government may change its mind. Geological Risk - Difficulty of extraction in reserves. - Smaller amount of reserves than expected. Price Risk - Unconventional extraction that may cost more. - Project may shut down due to lack of profit. Supply and Demand risk - When overproduction happens, an oversupply of crude oil will cause a drop-in demand in which prices will be affected. -