New York, January 8, 2026, 07:09 ET — Premarket
Valero Energy shares rose 0.7% in premarket trading on Thursday to $185.10, after ending Wednesday at $183.86. The stock has been in focus after California said Valero will keep supplying the market through a mix of existing inventories and imported gasoline as it idles its Benicia refinery next year.
Gasoline prices are one of the quickest inflation signals for consumers, and California’s supply chain is tight enough that refinery decisions can bleed into wholesale markets. For refiners, the key gauge is the crack spread — the gap between crude oil and fuel prices that traders use as a rough proxy for margins.
Oil prices firmed on Thursday after two days of declines as traders weighed fresh Venezuela developments and proposed U.S. sanctions legislation tied to Russia, while banks warned the market may be heading into a supply surplus this year. Brent was up about 1% at $60.55 a barrel and U.S. crude was near $56.57.
Valero has said it will idle the 145,000-barrel-per-day Benicia refinery in phases, starting with processing units in February for mandatory state inspections, and expects most refining units to be properly idled by April. Gasoline production will run until inventories are worked down, and Valero has said it will meet supply obligations and import additional volumes to serve Northern California.
At the pump, the U.S. national average for regular gasoline was $2.819 a gallon on Jan. 8, unchanged from the prior day and down from $2.952 a month ago, AAA data showed.
Traders have also been reacting to U.S. fuel inventories. U.S. gasoline stocks — inventories — rose by 7.7 million barrels last week, while distillate stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, climbed 5.6 million; crude stocks fell 3.8 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed. “Crude futures [are] continuing on the defensive …,” Dennis Kissler at BOK Financial wrote, pointing to Venezuela-linked supply headlines. Reuters
The other swing factor is Venezuela. Refiners such as Valero could benefit if more Venezuelan heavy crude reaches the U.S. Gulf Coast, cutting feedstock costs for plants configured to run heavier barrels. “If sanctions are lifted … the Gulf Coast can absorb most of that,” Rommel Oates, founder of Refinery Calculator, told Reuters, while Barclays analyst Theresa Chen estimated Valero could process an additional 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan crude if flows ramp up. Reuters
But the math can turn quickly. Big gasoline inventory builds can squeeze margins if demand stays soft, and any policy shift on Venezuela could move slower — or look different — than traders are pricing in, keeping crude differentials and product prices jumpy.
