瓦萊羅能源 (VLO) 2026 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Valero Energy Corp second quarter 2026 earnings call. (Operator Instructions)

各位好，歡迎參加 Valero Energy Corp 2026 年第二季財報電話會議。(接線員指示)

As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Brian Donovan, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

提醒各位，本次會議將被錄音。現在很榮幸為各位介紹本次會議主持人：投資人關係副總裁 Brian Donovan。謝謝。您可以開始了。

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Valero Energy corporation's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. I'm joined today by Lane Riggs, Chairman, CEO and President; Gary Simmons, Executive Vice President and COO; Rich Walsh, Executive Vice President and General Counsel; Homer Bhullar, Senior Vice President and CFO; as well as several other members of Valero's senior management team.

各位早安，歡迎參加 Valero Energy Corporation 2026 年第二季財報電話會議。今天與我一同出席的有：董事長、執行長兼總裁 Lane Riggs；執行副總裁兼營運長 Gary Simmons；執行副總裁兼總法律顧問 Rich Walsh；資深副總裁兼財務長 Homer Bhullar；以及 Valero 高階管理團隊的其他幾位成員。

If you have not yet received a copy of our earnings release, it is available on our website at investorvalero.com. Included with the release are supplemental tables providing detailed financial information for each of our business segments along with reconciliations and disclosures for any adjusted financial metrics referenced during today's call. If you have any questions after reviewing these materials, please feel free to reach out to our Investor Relations team.

若您尚未收到我們的財報新聞稿，可至 investorvalero.com 下載。新聞稿隨附補充表格，提供各業務部門的詳細財務資訊，以及本次電話會議中提及之任何調整後財務指標的調節表與揭露資訊。若您在檢視這些資料後仍有任何問題，歡迎隨時與我們的投資人關係團隊聯繫。

Before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to the forward-looking statement disclaimer included in the press release. In summary, it says that statements made in the press release and during this conference call that express the company's or management's expectations or forecasts of future events are forward-looking statements. and are intended to be covered by the Safe Harbor provisions under federal securities laws. Actual results may differ from those expressed or implied due to various factors, which are outlined in our earnings release and filings with the SEC.

在開始之前，我想請各位注意新聞稿中所載的前瞻性陳述免責聲明。簡而言之，新聞稿及本次電話會議中，凡表達公司或管理階層對未來事件之預期或預測的陳述，均屬前瞻性陳述，並意圖受聯邦證券法之「安全港」條款保障。由於多項因素，實際結果可能與明示或暗示之內容有所差異；相關因素已載於我們的財報新聞稿及向 SEC 提交的文件中。

I'll now turn the call over to Lane for opening remarks.

接下來我將把電話會議交給 Lane 進行開場致詞。

Thank you, Brian, and good morning, everyone. We're pleased to report a strong second quarter driven by exceptional operational and commercial performance across all 3 of our business segments. While geopolitical and macroeconomic factors continue to drive volatility, our team executed extremely well adapting to changing market conditions and capturing opportunities across our refining, renewable diesel and ethanol segments. Our refineries operated safely and reliably, helping meet resilient demand for transportation fuels. Our renewable diesel and ethanol segment also performed well, supplying additional liquid fuels to the market.

謝謝你，Brian，各位早安。我們很高興報告第二季表現強勁，主要受惠於三大業務部門在營運與商業面皆有卓越表現。儘管地緣政治與總體經濟因素仍持續帶來波動，我們的團隊在因應市場變化方面執行得非常出色，並在煉油、再生柴油與乙醇業務中掌握機會。我們的煉油廠安全且穩定地運轉，協助滿足對運輸燃料的韌性需求。我們的再生柴油與乙醇業務也表現良好，為市場提供額外的液體燃料供應。

On the financial side, our strong balance sheet remains a hallmark of our capital allocation framework. In addition to building cash during the quarter, we continue to demonstrate our long-standing commitment to shareholders. And earlier this month, we announced a dividend of $1.20 per share. Strategically, we still expect to complete our FCC Unit optimization project at our St. Charles Refinery during the third quarter. This $230 million investment is well timed and will allow us to increase our production of high-value products including output and finished gasoline.

在財務方面，我們強健的資產負債表仍是資本配置架構的核心特色。除了在本季累積現金之外，我們也持續展現對股東長期以來的承諾。本月稍早，我們宣布每股股利 1.20 美元。在策略面，我們仍預期於第三季完成聖查爾斯煉油廠（St. Charles Refinery）的 FCC 裝置最佳化專案。這項 2.30 億美元的投資時機恰當，將使我們能提高高附加價值產品的產量，包括汽油調和組分與成品汽油的產出。

Looking ahead, we continue to see a constructive environment for our business. Refining fundamentals remain supported by low global product inventory, limited excess refining capacity and resilient demand for transportation fuels. US Gulf Coast continues to be one of the most advantaged crude sourcing regions in the world, supported by abundant domestic production and access to a diverse range of other feedstocks, including Canadian and Venezuelan crude. Our strategically positioned and highly competitive asset base is also well suited to supply constrained global products market.

展望未來，我們仍看好公司所處的經營環境。煉油基本面仍受到全球成品庫存偏低、過剩煉油產能有限，以及運輸燃料需求具韌性等因素支撐。美國墨西哥灣沿岸仍是全球最具優勢的原油採購地區之一，受惠於充沛的國內產量，並可取得多元的其他原料來源，包括加拿大與委內瑞拉原油。我們具策略位置且高度具競爭力的資產基礎，也非常適合在全球成品供應受限的市場中提供供應。

In closing, our strong results reflect the disciplined consistency of our operational and commercial execution. Coupled with our differentiated balance sheet. These strengths position us well and provide plenty of financial flexibility.

最後，我們的強勁成果反映了我們在營運與商業執行上的紀律與一致性。再加上我們具差異化的資產負債表。這些優勢使我們處於有利位置，並提供充足的財務彈性。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Homer.

接下來我把電話會議交給 Homer。

Thank you, Lane. For the second quarter of 2026, net income attributable to Valero stockholders was $3.7 billion or $12.62 per share compared to $714 million or $2.28 per share for the second quarter of 2025. Excluding the adjustments shown in the earnings release tables, adjusted net income attributable to Valero stockholders for the second quarter of 2026 was $3.7 billion or $12.54 per share.

謝謝你，Lane。2026 年第二季，歸屬於 Valero 股東的淨利為 37 億美元，或每股 12.62 美元；相較之下，2025 年第二季為 7.14 億美元，或每股 2.28 美元。排除財報新聞稿表格中所示的調整項目後，2026 年第二季歸屬於 Valero 股東的調整後淨利為 37 億美元，或每股 12.54 美元。

The refining segment reported $4.5 billion of operating income for the second quarter of 2026 compared to $1.3 billion for the second quarter of 2025. Adjusted operating income for the second quarter of 2026 was $4.4 billion. Refining throughput volumes in the second quarter of 2026 averaged 3 million barrels per day. Refining cash operating expenses were $4.70 per barrel in the second quarter of 2026.

煉油部門於 2026 年第二季的營業利益為 45 億美元，較 2025 年第二季的 13 億美元增加。2026 年第二季的調整後營業利益為 44 億美元。2026 年第二季煉油處理量平均為每日 300 萬桶。2026 年第二季煉油現金營運費用為每桶 4.70 美元。

The renewable diesel segment reported operating income of $717 million for the second quarter of compared to an operating loss of $79 million for the second quarter of 2025. Renewable Diesel segment sales volumes averaged 3.8 million gallons per day for the second quarter of 2026.

再生柴油部門於 2026 年第二季的營業利益為 7.17 億美元；相較之下，2025 年第二季為 7,900 萬美元的營業損失。2026 年第二季再生柴油部門銷售量平均為每日 380 萬加侖。

The ethanol segment reported $318 million of operating income for the second quarter of 2026 compared to $54 million for the second quarter of 2025. Ethanol production volumes averaged 4.7 million gallons per day in the second quarter of 2026.

乙醇部門於 2026 年第二季的營業利益為 3.18 億美元，較 2025 年第二季的 5,400 萬美元增加。2026 年第二季乙醇產量平均為每日 470 萬加侖。

G&A expenses were $233 million for the second quarter of 2026. Depreciation and amortization expense was $737 million for the second quarter of 2026, which includes approximately $33 million of incremental depreciation expense related to ceasing refining operations at our Benicia Refinery. Net interest expense was $145 million and income tax expense was $1.1 billion for the second quarter of 2026. The effective tax rate was 21%.

2026 年第二季一般及管理（G&A）費用為 2.33 億美元。2026 年第二季折舊與攤銷費用為 7.37 億美元，其中包含約 3,300 萬美元的額外折舊費用，係與我們停止 Benicia 煉油廠煉油作業相關。2026 年第二季淨利息費用為 1.45 億美元，所得稅費用為 11 億美元。有效稅率為 21%。

Net cash provided by operating activities was $5.6 billion in the second quarter of 2026. Included in this amount was a $706 million favorable impact from working capital and $389 million of adjusted net cash provided by operating activities associated with the other joint venture member share of DGD. Excluding these items, adjusted net cash provided by operating activities was $4.5 billion in the second quarter of 2026.

2026 年第二季營業活動提供的淨現金為 56 億美元。其中包含營運資金帶來的 7.06 億美元有利影響，以及與 DGD 其他合資夥伴持分相關的 3.89 億美元調整後營業活動提供之淨現金。排除上述項目後，2026 年第二季調整後營業活動提供的淨現金為 45 億美元。

Regarding investing activities, we made $350 million of capital investments in the second quarter of 2026, of which $290 million was for sustaining the business, including costs for turnarounds, catalysts and regulatory compliance and the balance was for growing the business. Excluding capital investments attributable to the other joint venture member share of DGD and other variable interest entities, capital investments attributable to Valero were $346 million in the second quarter of 2026.

就投資活動而言，我們於 2026 年第二季進行 3.50 億美元的資本投資，其中 2.90 億美元用於維持營運（包括歲修、觸媒及法規遵循成本），其餘則用於業務成長。排除歸屬於 DGD 其他合資夥伴持分及其他可變利益實體的資本投資後，2026 年第二季歸屬於 Valero 的資本投資為 3.46 億美元。

Moving to financing activities. We remain committed to our disciplined capital allocation framework. Shareholder cash returns totaled $2.6 billion in the second quarter of 2026, resulting in a payout ratio of 59% for the quarter. And as Lane mentioned earlier, we announced a quarterly cash dividend on common stock of $1.20 per share on July 16.

接著談融資活動。我們仍然致力於嚴謹的資本配置框架。2026年第二季股東現金回饋合計26億美元，使本季的配發率達59%。此外，如Lane先前提到的，我們於7月16日宣布普通股每股1.20美元的季度現金股利。

Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $9.1 billion of total debt, $2.2 billion of total finance lease obligations and $7.9 billion of cash and cash equivalents. The debt-to-capitalization ratio, net of cash and cash equivalents was 11% as of June 30, 2026, reflecting a cash build of $2.1 billion during the quarter.

接著看資產負債表。本季末我們的總負債為91億美元、融資租賃義務總額22億美元，現金及約當現金為79億美元。截至2026年6月30日，扣除現金及約當現金後的負債資本化比率為11%，反映本季現金增加21億美元。

Consistent with our prior messaging, we built cash above the high end of our long-term $4 billion to $5 billion cash target to preserve optionality in a volatile market environment while also exceeding our minimum payout commitment. And earlier this month, we repaid the $100 million outstanding principal balance of our 7.65% notes that matured on July 1. An additional $572 million of maturities due later this year will be repaid using cash held from debt we proactively issued in the first quarter. Overall, we ended the quarter well capitalized with $5.3 billion of available liquidity, excluding cash.

與我們先前的訊息一致，我們將現金水位提高至長期40億至50億美元現金目標區間的上緣之上，以在波動的市場環境中保留彈性，同時也超出我們的最低配發承諾。此外，本月稍早我們償還了於7月1日到期的7.65%票據1億美元未償本金餘額。今年稍晚到期的另外5.72億美元到期款，將以我們在第一季主動發行債務所持有的現金進行償還。整體而言，本季末我們資本結構穩健，扣除現金後可用流動性為53億美元。

Turning to guidance. We expect capital investments attributable to Valero for 2026 to be approximately $2 billion. This includes expenditures for turnarounds, catalysts, regulatory compliance, joint venture investments and the estimated cost to repair the DHT unit at our Port Arthur refinery. Approximately $1.7 billion is allocated to sustaining the business with the remainder directed towards growth projects.

接著談財測指引。我們預期2026年歸屬於Valero的資本投資約為20億美元。其中包括歲修支出、觸媒、法規遵循、合資投資，以及修復我們Port Arthur煉油廠DHT裝置的估計成本。約17億美元配置於維持營運，其餘則用於成長專案。

Repairs to the Port Arthur DHT unit are expected to be completed and the unit returned to service by year-end. Total repair costs are estimated to be $250 million included in our updated guidance for sustaining CapEx. We expect a substantial portion of the cost to be covered by insurance. In the meantime, the refinery continues to operate at normal throughput rates.

Port Arthur DHT裝置的修復預計將於年底前完成並恢復運轉。修復總成本估計為2.5億美元，已納入我們更新後的維持性資本支出指引。我們預期相當大一部分成本將由保險理賠涵蓋。在此期間，該煉油廠仍以正常加工量運作。

On the growth side, our projects are focused primarily on shorter cycle optimization investments that enhance crude and product optionality across our refining system as well as efficiency and rate expansion projects within our ethanol plants. Collectively, these projects should strengthen the earnings capacity of our existing asset base.

在成長方面，我們的專案主要聚焦於較短週期的最佳化投資，以提升我們整體煉油系統在原油與產品上的選擇彈性，以及乙醇工廠內的效率提升與產能擴增專案。整體而言，這些專案應可強化我們既有資產基礎的獲利能力。

For modeling our third quarter operations, we expect refining throughput volumes to fall within the following ranges: Gulf Coast at 1.78 million to 1.83 million barrels per day; Mid-Continent at 460,000 to 480,000 barrels per day; West Coast at 110,000 to 120,000 barrels per day; North Atlantic at 450,000 to 470,000 barrels per day. We expect refining cash operating expenses in the third quarter to be approximately $4.75 per barrel.

就第三季營運建模而言，我們預期煉油加工量將落在以下區間：墨西哥灣沿岸為每日178萬至183萬桶；中部地區為每日46萬至48萬桶；西岸為每日11萬至12萬桶；北大西洋為每日45萬至47萬桶。我們預期第三季煉油現金營運費用約為每桶4.75美元。

For the renewable diesel segment, we expect sales volumes of approximately 335 million gallons in the third quarter. Operating expenses should be $0.49 per gallon, including $0.21 per gallon for noncash costs such as depreciation and amortization.

在再生柴油事業部門方面，我們預期第三季銷售量約為3.35億加侖。營運費用應為每加侖0.49美元，其中包含每加侖0.21美元的非現金成本，例如折舊與攤銷。

Our ethanol segment is expected to produce 4.8 million gallons per day in the third quarter. Operating expenses should average $0.39 per gallon, which includes $0.04 per gallon for noncash costs such as depreciation and amortization.

我們的乙醇事業部門預期第三季產量為每日480萬加侖。營運費用平均應為每加侖0.39美元，其中包含每加侖0.04美元的非現金成本，例如折舊與攤銷。

For the third quarter, net interest expense should be about $140 million. Total depreciation and amortization expense in the third quarter should be approximately $700 million. Lastly, we expect G&A expenses this year to be approximately $960 million.

第三季淨利息費用約為1.4億美元。第三季折舊與攤銷費用合計約為7億美元。最後，我們預期今年的G&A費用約為9.6億美元。

Thanks, Homer. That concludes our opening remarks. Before we open the call to questions, I would ask that you limit each turn in the Q&A to two questions. If you have more than two questions, please rejoin the queue as time permits to ensure other callers have time to ask their questions.

謝謝你，Homer。以上為我們的開場說明。在我們開放提問之前，我想請各位在問答環節每次發言最多提出兩個問題。若您有超過兩個問題，請視時間允許重新排隊，以確保其他來電者也有時間提問。

(Operator Instructions) Neil Mehta, Goldman Sachs.

(接線員指示) Neil Mehta，高盛。

Obviously, an extraordinary quarter. I think a lot of us remember when $4 your mid-cycle EPS and doing $12 in a quarter is pretty extraordinary. And the kind of -- we're not quarter-to-quarter folks here, but as we think about bridging 2Q to 3Q, we just love your guys' perspective. We just look at Gulf Coast indicators, they're up from $30 to $41 on your database. But the shape of the oil curve is probably more favorable with dated Brent versus your month 1 Brent no longer being in such a steep backwardation. So can you just talk about some of the moving pieces as we bridge from 2Q to 3Q? And give us any color you can provide, knowing that there's a lot of quarter left.

顯然，這是一個非常出色的季度。我想我們很多人都記得，中期循環每股盈餘（EPS）4美元，而單季做到12美元是相當驚人的。我們不是那種逐季看的人，但當我們思考從第二季到第三季的銜接時，很希望聽聽你們的看法。我們看到你們資料庫中的墨西哥灣沿岸指標從30美元上升到41美元。但油價曲線的形狀可能更有利，因為dated Brent相對於你們的近月（month 1）Brent不再呈現那麼陡峭的逆價差（backwardation）。所以你們能否談談從第二季到第三季銜接時的一些變動因素？也請在仍有很多季度時間尚未走完的前提下，盡可能提供一些補充說明。

Neil, this is Gary. I'll try to go through it. Still early in the quarter, but to us, both margins and capture rates look constructive relative to the second quarter. As you mentioned, really, the biggest tailwind in the quarter is really around feedstocks. The market structure thus far is resulting in an improvement in delivered crude costs relative to the benchmarks.

Neil，我是Gary。我試著說明一下。雖然本季仍在初期，但就我們看來，無論是利差（margins）或取得率（capture rates）相較第二季都呈現正向。如你所提到的，本季最大的順風主要來自原料。迄今為止的市場結構，使到廠原油成本相對於基準價格有所改善。

Thus far, Randy's team has done a really good job of purchasing several grades of crude at discounts to the benchmarks where in the second quarter, a lot of the physical grades were being traded at significant premiums to the screen. Naphtha is at a premium to Brent, which in the second quarter was flat to Brent. Propylene has strengthened; sulfur remains strong.

到目前為止，Randy的團隊在採購多種原油等級方面做得非常好，能以低於基準的折價買進；而在第二季，許多實體等級原油相對於盤面價格是以顯著溢價交易。石腦油相對Brent呈現溢價，而第二季則與Brent持平。丙烯走強；硫磺仍維持強勢。

In the second quarter, we did get a nice tailwind from Jet, which we haven't seen in the third quarter. But we do now have an open arb to export Jet to Europe. And as we transition to winter-grade diesel specs, I suspect we'll start to see jet strengthen as we move throughout the quarter. So really, the margin environment thus far is stronger than what we saw in the second quarter. And based on what we know today, we should see an improvement in capture rates as well.

第二季我們確實受惠於航空燃油（Jet）的不錯順風，但第三季尚未看到同樣情況。不過，我們現在有一條開放的套利窗口（open arb），可將航空燃油出口到歐洲。而隨著我們轉換至冬季規格的柴油標準，我猜測在本季進行的過程中，航空燃油將開始走強。因此，就目前為止，利差環境比我們在第二季看到的更強。並且根據我們今天所掌握的資訊，我們也應會看到取得率有所改善。

Follow-up, Homer, this one probably for you. I just -- you're sitting above what I would characterize as your mid-cycle cash balance of $4 billion to $5 billion right now. So how are you thinking about deploying it, whether to hold back excess cash or to continue to shrink the share count. Any perspective would be great.

追問一下，Homer，這題可能比較適合你。我只是——你們目前的現金水位高於我所認為的中期循環現金餘額40億到50億美元。所以你們如何思考運用這些資金，是要保留多餘現金，還是繼續縮減流通股數？任何觀點都很有幫助。

Neil, maybe I'll just start reiterating what we've said around our decision to build cash this year was really driven around prudently managing our volatility in commodity prices, right? So the risk that we're trying to address is when you have a rapid pullback in commodity prices, particularly crude, you tend to -- that tends to be accompanied by a draw on working capital and cash. And in that event, if there's a significant draw on cash, we just want to make sure we're not constrained on our ability to return cash to shareholders.

Neil，或許我先重申一下我們先前提到的：我們今年決定累積現金，主要是出於審慎管理大宗商品價格波動的考量，對吧？我們試圖因應的風險是，當大宗商品價格（尤其是原油）快速回落時，通常會伴隨營運資金與現金的消耗。在那種情況下，如果現金出現顯著流出，我們只是想確保我們不會在向股東返還現金的能力上受到限制。

But that said, because of the current environment we're in, coupled with the balance sheet where we don't really have any need or pressure to further lower leverage we can pay out well above our target of 50% and build cash at the same time. I mean, Gary obviously talked about things on the refining side going to the third quarter. I'm sure Eric will also speak to a constructive backdrop for our other 2 businesses, ethanol and renewable diesel. And in this environment, I think building cash and shareholder returns don't have to be mutually exclusive. So I'll reiterate that our long-term target on cash and leverage remains unchanged.

不過話說回來，鑑於我們所處的當前環境，再加上資產負債表狀況——我們其實沒有進一步降低槓桿的需求或壓力——我們可以在同時累積現金的情況下，支付遠高於50%目標的配發。我的意思是，Gary顯然談到了煉油端進入第三季的情況。我相信Eric也會談到我們另外兩項業務——乙醇與再生柴油——的建設性背景。在這樣的環境下，我認為累積現金與股東回饋不必是互斥的。因此我再重申一次，我們對現金與槓桿的長期目標維持不變。

While the volatility is likely not behind us at this point, we'll continue to hold a little bit more cash. But if we see a pullback in commodity prices or lower volatility, we're in a great position to accelerate shareholder returns as we move back towards our long-term cash target of $4 billion to $5 billion. Long answer, but hopefully helpful context for you.

由於波動性在此時點可能尚未結束，我們會繼續持有稍多一些現金。但如果我們看到大宗商品價格回落或波動性降低，當我們朝著40億至50億美元的長期現金目標回歸時，我們處於非常有利的位置，可以加速股東回饋。回答有點長，但希望能提供對你有幫助的背景脈絡。

Theresa Chen, Barclays.

Theresa Chen，巴克萊。

Over the last several years, repeated geopolitical disruptions have highlighted just how tight global refining capacity remains post pandemic even with meaningful capacity additions in emerging markets. And each successive disruption appears to have produced a larger-than-expected margin response, most recently following events in the Middle East. Do you believe that the industry has structurally shifted to a higher mid-cycle refining margin environment? And if so, what are your assumptions that would underpin such an outlook?

過去幾年，反覆出現的地緣政治干擾凸顯了疫情後全球煉油產能依然非常吃緊，即便新興市場有相當規模的產能新增。而且每一次接續的干擾，似乎都帶來超出預期的利差反應，最近一次是在中東事件之後。你們是否認為產業結構已轉向更高的中周期煉油利差環境？若是如此，你們用以支撐這種展望的假設是什麼？

Theresa, this is Gary. And we do have a much more bullish view of a future mid-cycle than what you would calculate using historic margins. The primary basis for that view is that when we look at the mid-cycle using -- that you would get calculating historic margins, product crack spreads were largely set by cracking margins in Northwest Europe. And as supply and demand balances have tightened, it appears that refinery crack spreads are now really being set by hydroskimming margins in Northwest Europe. So based on future demand projections as well as planned capacity additions, we believe hydroskimming margins will continue to set product crack spreads moving forward, which will result in higher crack spreads.

Theresa，我是Gary。我們對未來中周期的看法確實比你用歷史利差計算出來的結果要樂觀得多。這個觀點的主要依據是：當我們用你所說的方式、以歷史利差來計算中周期時，成品油裂解價差在很大程度上是由西北歐的裂解（cracking）利差所決定。而隨著供需平衡收緊，看起來煉廠裂解價差現在其實是由西北歐的常壓蒸餾型（hydroskimming）利差在定價。因此，基於未來需求預測以及規劃中的產能新增，我們認為常壓蒸餾型利差將在未來持續主導成品油裂解價差，從而帶來更高的裂解價差。

Additionally, that hydroskimming capacity is subject to rising cost of carbon credits which drives those cracks higher as well as inflationary pressures on both OpEx and CapEx that will result in the higher floor on refinery cracks. Finally, we also see a much more bullish outlook on crude quality discounts going forward compared to history especially for heavy sour crude, which also has a very positive impact on our future mid-cycle view as well.

此外，這些常壓蒸餾型產能也面臨碳權成本上升，這會推升裂解價差；同時，營運費用（OpEx）與資本支出（CapEx）的通膨壓力，也將使煉廠裂解價差的底部水準更高。最後，相較於歷史，我們也看到未來原油品質折價（quality discounts）的展望更為看多，特別是重質含硫原油（heavy sour crude），這也對我們對未來中周期的看法帶來非常正面的影響。

And also appreciate the really impressive results in the renewable fuel segments. If we could get an update on your outlook for unit margins and profitability on a go-forward basis here, both near and long term, that would be great.

另外，再生燃料部門的成果也非常亮眼。如果可以的話，請更新一下你們對未來（無論近期或長期）單位利差與獲利能力的展望，將非常有幫助。

Theresa, this is Eric. I think if we start with DGD and renewable diesel, you see the -- it benefited from the same volatility that benefited liquid fuels in general. But the underlying benefit that you saw in 2Q is the fact that the RVO and the D4 RIN increased at a rate far quicker than fat prices. And so as we look at that going forward, we still see values higher than fat prices. And so you have that tailwind, certainly through '26 and '27 with the RVO as it has been set. Even with the recent drop in the last few days, it's still very positive versus historical. So we see RD looks more positive for the rest of this year and into '27.

Theresa，我是Eric。我想如果先從DGD與再生柴油（renewable diesel, RD）談起，你會看到——它受惠於與液體燃料整體相同的波動性。但你在第二季看到的核心利多，是RVO與D4 RIN的上升速度遠快於油脂（fat）價格。因此展望未來，我們仍看到其價值高於油脂價格。所以你有這股順風，至少會延續到'26與'27，因為RVO已經設定。即便最近幾天有所下跌，相較歷史水準仍然非常正面。因此我們認為RD在今年剩餘時間以及一路到'27都更偏正向。

And then with ethanol, same benefit with the general increase in gasoline and octane values. But on top of that, the production tax credit that we are now capturing it's $0.14 year-to-date probably $0.17 for the full year. And if you look into '27 through '29, it's probably $0.19 a gallon.

至於乙醇，同樣受惠於汽油與辛烷值整體上升。除此之外，我們現在也開始取得生產稅額抵免（production tax credit），年初至今約為0.14美元，全年可能約0.17美元。而若看向'27到'29，可能約為每加侖0.19美元。

You put that in perspective with the historical mid-cycle of $0.25, that says that you're almost doubling the value of ethanol through 2029. So you've got some significant structural tailwinds in both RD and ethanol on top of the benefit that we're seeing today with just the whole world in short of the fuels and seeing a lot of volatility.

把這與歷史中周期0.25美元相比，代表到2029年乙醇的價值幾乎翻倍。因此，RD與乙醇都存在一些顯著的結構性順風，此外還疊加了我們今天看到的好處——也就是全球燃料供應偏緊並伴隨高度波動。

Manav Gupta, UBS.

Manav Gupta，瑞銀。

Congrats, guys. I think this was your highest ever quarterly earnings. Let me know if I'm wrong, but I think it was the highest. I just had a quick question on what -- kind of relating to refining macro. So I'll ask them together.

恭喜各位。我認為這是你們史上最高的單季獲利。如果我說錯請指正，但我覺得是最高。我有個很快的問題——有點跟煉油的總體環境相關。所以我會一起問。

First, the number that is floating around is that there's 5 million barrels of global capacity or 10% of the global capacity, which is offline between Middle East as well as Russia. And I'm just trying to understand what would that do to the global product inventories. And even if we open up magically in the next one month, how long do you think it would actually take to replenish some of this global product inventory, which has been depleted in a major way because of the extended shutdown that we are having?

目前外界流傳的數字是：中東以及俄羅斯有500萬桶/日的全球產能、或約占全球產能10%處於停擺狀態。我想了解這會對全球成品油庫存造成什麼影響。即便我們在接下來一個月內神奇地全部恢復運作，你認為實際上需要多久才能補回部分全球成品油庫存？因為這次延長停工已經使全球成品油庫存大幅被消耗。

And my second question here is when we look at the Russia-Ukraine conflict when it started, diesel moved up, gasoline really did not participate. This time, it's a little different. Gasoline is actually very actively participating and it's closing the gap to diesel. I'm assuming you're still in max diesel mode, but gasoline cracks are much stronger. So if you could talk a little bit about what's driving the relative strength in gasoline? And are the gasoline markets really that tight if you could address those things.

第二個問題是，回顧俄烏衝突剛開始時，柴油價格上漲，但汽油其實沒有跟上。這次有點不同。汽油其實非常積極地參與上漲，並且正在縮小與柴油之間的差距。我猜你們仍處於最大化柴油的模式，但汽油裂解價差強很多。所以如果可以的話，請談談是什麼在驅動汽油相對強勢？以及汽油市場是否真的那麼緊俏，請一併說明。

Manav, I'll try to go through those. So yes, I think we agreed about 5 million barrels a day of refining capacity is off-line. When we look at the consultant data that we subscribe to, it would show that globally total light product inventories are down about 150 million barrels from where they were to start the year. We're about 130 million barrels below where they would normally be at this time of year.

Manav，我來試著逐一回答。是的，我想我們同意大約有500萬桶/日的煉油產能處於停擺。我們查看所訂閱的顧問數據，顯示全球輕質成品油總庫存較年初水準下降約1.5億桶。我們目前比一年中這個時點的正常水準低約1.3億桶。

Their data would suggest that if the conflict were to end today, global inventories remained below the 5-year average range through 2027. Gasoline recovering fastest, followed by diesel and then jet. These projections do assume that you see suppressed global demand for clean products this year as a result of higher prices and that we'll see normalized operations in the Middle East and Asia following the reopening of the Strait.

他們的數據顯示，若衝突今天就結束，全球庫存將在2027年前仍低於5年平均區間。汽油復甦最快，其次是柴油，再來是航空燃油。這些預測確實假設今年因價格較高而導致全球清潔產品需求受抑，且在海峽重新開放後，中東與亞洲的營運將恢復正常。

What I would tell you is what I see today, I think it takes longer to recover than those projections. I think some of the refining capacity, especially in the Middle East, sustained damage and will take a longer time to come back on. And then as you mentioned, the Ukranian drone attacks on Russian refining capacity are beginning to have a significant impact on the market, and I don't see those slowing down.

我想告訴你的是，就我今天所看到的情況，我認為復甦所需時間會比那些預測更長。我認為部分煉油產能，特別是在中東，遭受了持續性損害，將需要更長時間才能恢復運轉。另外如你提到的，烏克蘭無人機對俄羅斯煉油產能的攻擊正開始對市場產生顯著影響，而我看不出這些攻擊會放緩。

In terms of the relative strength of gasoline relative to diesel, I think a lot of what we've seen on gasoline is that normally, you see a flow of gasoline from Europe to the United States. And with the strength in Europe, the transatlantic arb to ship gasoline from Europe to the US is closed. In addition to that, we see good export demand for gasoline in the Latin America. So the combination of the closed arb import barrels from Europe open-arb export barrels of Latin America has a net gasoline import that's down about 400,000 barrels a day from where it historically is. So that, combined with a good domestic demand is really what's leading to the relative strength in gasoline.

就汽油相對於柴油的相對強勢而言，我認為我們在汽油上看到的很多情況是：通常會有汽油從歐洲流向美國。但在歐洲走強的情況下，將汽油從歐洲運往美國的跨大西洋套利窗口已經關閉。此外，我們也看到拉丁美洲對汽油有良好的出口需求。因此，歐洲進口套利關閉、拉丁美洲出口套利開啟的組合效應，使得汽油淨進口量較歷史水準下降約40萬桶/日。所以，這再加上良好的國內需求，正是推動汽油相對強勢的主要原因。

Sam Margolin, Wells Fargo.

Sam Margolin，富國銀行。

This question is sort of along the same capital allocation lines, but it's about growth. I do think the market has accepted the fact that refineries represent a bottleneck in the energy complex right now? And that seems pretty clear. And so the question is just how are you thinking about growth opportunities within that? And I guess there's some questions about kind of inflation that flow into that too.

這個問題大致沿著相同的資本配置脈絡，但聚焦在成長。我確實認為市場已接受一個事實：煉油廠目前是能源產業鏈中的瓶頸？而這點看起來相當明確。所以問題在於，你們如何看待其中的成長機會？我想其中也有一些關於通膨的問題會牽涉進來。

Sam, it's Lane. What I would say is post-COVID, we were -- we would had been at about $1 billion post-COVID on strategic spending. And that was really capped by, I would say, our project execution efficiency. Post COVID, we've been about $0.5 billion on average, maybe creep up to $0.7 billion, a lot of which -- if you look back at it was renewable spend. So we sort of carry renewable spend down because the sort of policy isn't super supportive and we're trying to let the renewable business sort of catch up with policy and some of the other things that are happening. So really, our spend largely in refining and ethanol.

Sam，我是Lane。我想說的是，COVID之後，我們的策略性支出原本大約會在10億美元左右。而那主要受限於我所說的專案執行效率。COVID之後，我們平均大約在5億美元左右，可能逐步增加到7億美元，其中很大一部分——如果你回頭看——是再生能源支出。因此我們把再生能源支出往下調，因為政策支持度並不算高，我們也在嘗試讓再生能源業務在政策以及其他正在發生的事情上「追上進度」。所以我們的支出主要是在煉油與乙醇。

We still look for projects. We're attentive and we're very disciplined in terms of how we look at our projects, meet our gating system. We do have, as Gary alluded to, and I think most of the industry accepts higher mid-cycle going forward. But we -- the projects we like in refining obviously, are more around two things, I would say.

我們仍在尋找專案。我們保持關注，並且在評估專案、符合我們的關卡（gating）制度方面非常嚴謹自律。正如Gary所暗示的，我想產業大多也接受未來的中周期水準會更高。但我們——我們在煉油方面喜歡的專案，顯然主要圍繞兩件事。

One is yield improvement. The other one is, I would call it, commercial leverage feedstock leverage, how can we get in a better position things that were potentially long and trying to get rid of those and then where we have a chronic short -- I think it's one of the examples I used in the past the whole United States is short of VGO and so we're trying -- we'll look through and find the projects that make sense for us to sort of improve our overall commercial leverage in that space.

第一是收率提升。第二則是我所稱的商業槓桿／原料槓桿：我們如何讓自己處於更有利的位置——把那些可能供給過剩、一直想處理掉的品項改善掉；而在我們長期短缺的部分——我過去舉過的例子是整個美國都缺VGO——我們會檢視並找出對我們有意義的專案，以提升我們在該領域的整體商業槓桿。

We have higher -- like I said, we have a higher mid-cycle look going forward for that. But we're not going to lose our discipline with respect to our capital and how we're going to spend money. But with that said, Gary kind of touched it the higher cost of these projects also puts sort of a lower -- it supports the higher mid-cycle as well. There's a lot of things here supporting a higher mid-cycle in refining.

如我所說，我們對未來的中周期展望更高。但我們不會在資本紀律以及如何花錢這件事上失去自律。不過話說回來，Gary也提到，這些專案成本更高，也在某種程度上形成一個較低的——同時也支撐更高的中周期水準。在煉油方面，有很多因素都在支撐更高的中周期。

Okay. And then this is just a follow-up. I think one of the limiting factors on maybe crude throughput capacity growth in the past decade, is that crude availability wasn't necessarily improving. E&Ps wanted to send their incremental barrel into export markets. And now, that may be a little different because you have Venezuela that's growing volumes into the US and then Canada, a lot of Canadian producers seem to want to be in growth mode too, and that's kind of a captive barrel. Is there anything changing on the feedstock side that affects your view of crude throughput optionality?

好的。接著這是一個追問。我認為過去十年原油處理量產能成長的一個限制因素是，原油供給可得性未必在改善。上游（E&P）業者想把新增的每一桶送往出口市場。而現在情況可能有些不同，因為委內瑞拉對美國的供應量在增加，另外加拿大——許多加拿大生產商似乎也想進入成長模式，而那算是相對「鎖定」的供應桶。在原料端是否有任何變化，會影響你們對原油處理量彈性（optionalitiy）的看法？

Well, yes. I would just be -- we don't try to provide too much, I would say, strategic specific projects. I will say we see the same thing. We see that -- we see a forward world, whether it's more Canadian heavy, there's more Venezuelan. That helped our current asset base. If you think about what I said earlier with respect to the -- how I would like to improve our position with respect to BGO and maybe not quite so much naphtha-rich crudes, that's -- I'd like to see projects sort of in that incrementing crude in that space for sure.

嗯，是的。我只是——我們不太會提供過多、我會說，策略上非常具體的專案細節。但我會說我們看到同樣的情況。我們看到——我們看到未來的世界，可能是更多加拿大重質油、也有更多委內瑞拉原油。那對我們現有資產基礎是有利的。如果你回想我先前提到的——關於我希望改善我們在BGO方面的部位，以及也許不要那麼偏向石腦油含量高的原油——我確實希望看到一些專案能在那類增量原油上有所提升。

John Royall, Piper Sandler.

John Royall，Piper Sandler。

So my first question is just a follow-up on DGD margins and specifically looking at the July indicator, it's quite high. And it looks like, in addition to the higher diesel price and RIN prices that were kind of known and expected. You've also seen a tick down in feedstock costs as well. And maybe you could talk about the dynamics kind of driving feedstock costs lower and how you expect that to trend for the rest of 3Q. And just to confirm, when feedstock prices are coming down, we should expect to capture headwind there in 3Q. Just wanted to confirm that.

我第一個問題是關於DGD利潤率的追問，特別是看7月指標，數值相當高。看起來除了柴油價格與RIN價格上升（這些算是已知且可預期的）之外，你們也看到原料成本有所下滑。也許你可以談談是什麼動態在推動原料成本下降，以及你預期在第三季剩餘時間會如何走勢。另外想確認一下，當原料價格下滑時，我們應該預期在第三季會形成不利因素（headwind）被反映出來。只是想確認這點。

Yes, that's absolutely right. What you're seeing on the feedstock side is the current policy favors domestic feedstocks first over foreign feedstocks. Soybeans and ag in general continues to be -- have above expectations in terms of crop yields, and that's globally, not just in the US. So that you see length in corn, you see length in soybeans and the US policy with this high D4 is somewhat eliminating the benefits of what usually is the low CI waste feedstocks being advantaged over veg oils.

是的，完全正確。你在原料端看到的是，現行政策優先偏好國內原料，而非海外原料。黃豆以及整體農產品的作物單產持續高於預期，而且是全球性的，不僅僅在美國。因此你會看到玉米供給寬鬆、黃豆供給寬鬆，而美國在D4很高的政策下，某種程度上正在消除通常「低碳強度（CI）的廢棄物原料」相對於植物油更具優勢的好處。

The US is becoming largely indifferent, just looking for just volume to fill the D4 obligation. Externally in the world, the rest of the world is still driven on low carbon pathways and feedstocks. And so you still see soybean oil is not the preferred feedstock for a lot of the compliance volume that goes into Canada and Europe. So in general, the world is well supplied feedstocks.

美國正變得在很大程度上無所謂，只是想找足夠的量來滿足 D4 的義務。在全球外部環境方面，世界其他地區仍然以低碳路徑與低碳原料為驅動。因此你仍會看到，大豆油並不是許多進入加拿大與歐洲之合規量的首選原料。所以整體而言，全球原料供應充足。

I think one of the challenges we'll see will be a headwind going into the rest of the year is how the new tariffs are going to affect some of this. But in general, you see the demand for liquids and the values associated, whether it's LCFS or D4s exceeds where feedstock prices have been.

我認為我們在今年剩餘時間會看到的一個挑戰、也就是一個逆風，是新關稅將如何影響其中一些情況。但總體來看，你會看到液體燃料的需求以及相關價值（不論是 LCFS 或 D4）都高於原料價格所處的水準。

Great. And then my next question is on the crude slate on the Gulf Coast. And just wondering if you could give us some color on how much Venezuela you able to run in your system today. And if you could also talk about the availability of Mexican grades, I think there's been an effort there to curb exports of crude. So just wondering what the market for Mexican crude looks like today.

很好。接著我下一個問題是關於墨西哥灣沿岸的原油組合。想請你們多談談，目前你們的系統今天能夠加工多少委內瑞拉原油。另外也請談談墨西哥油種的供應情況；我想那邊一直在努力抑制原油出口。所以想了解一下，今天墨西哥原油市場看起來如何。

So I'll start with Venezuela. I mean -- this is Randy, by the way. Yes, we continue to see pretty good availability out of Venezuela on the heavy crude supply, and we're pretty encouraged by the growth that we're seeing both in supply and exports out of the country.

我先從委內瑞拉開始。我是 Randy，順帶一提。是的，我們持續看到委內瑞拉在重質原油供應方面有相當不錯的可得性，而且我們對於該國供應與出口的成長感到相當鼓舞。

I think if you look kind of over history, we've been the largest US consumer of Venezuelan crude over the last several years, and we expect that to continue going forward. Our ability to process very high volumes of this heavy high asset crude is a key competitive advantage for our system. But as always, we always compare this against other alternatives, including Canadian heavy.

如果你回顧歷史，我們在過去幾年一直是美國最大的委內瑞拉原油消費者，我們預期未來也會持續如此。我們系統能夠處理非常高量的這種重質、高酸值（high TAN）原油，是我們的一項關鍵競爭優勢。但一如既往，我們也會把它與其他替代選項比較，包括加拿大重油。

If you kind of look at June, we saw Canadian crude prices rise quite a bit due to weather and flooding issues up in Canada. That caused us to kind of pivot to more Venezuela. And we'd expect to see processing rates of Venezuelan heavy crude in the coming months that exceed our historical maximum.

如果看 6 月，加拿大原油價格因加拿大當地天氣與洪水問題而大幅上升。這使我們某種程度上轉向更多委內瑞拉原油。而我們預期未來幾個月委內瑞拉重油的加工量將超過我們歷史最高水準。

And down in Mexico, right now, their exports have -- they are down compared to last year, mainly due to higher refinery runs at the start of the dose focus. But we do see this pretty volatile month-to-month that -- so as the refining system runs higher, their exports are obviously lower. So we see that trend likely continuing going forward.

至於墨西哥，目前他們的出口量——相較去年是下降的，主要是因為在年初煉廠開工率提高、把重心放在國內供應。但我們確實看到這個情況每個月波動很大——因此當他們的煉油系統運轉更高時，出口自然就更低。所以我們認為這個趨勢很可能會在未來持續。

Joe Laetsch, Morgan Stanley.

Joe Laetsch，摩根士丹利。

So I wanted to dig in on some of the regions. And starting with the West Coast. Can you just talk about what you're seeing from a local crude pricing and availability standpoint? It looked like a good quarter for the West Coast in Wilmington. So maybe you just how that asset is performing and competitiveness of it currently relative to the rest of the portfolio.

我想深入談談一些區域情況。先從西岸開始。你們能否談談，從當地原油定價與供應可得性的角度，你們看到了什麼？看起來西岸的 Wilmington 這一季表現不錯。所以也許你們可以談談該資產目前的營運表現，以及相對於整體資產組合的競爭力。

And then on the Gulf Coast, that was also stronger than we had modeled despite some of the downtime at Port Arthur. Just your perspective on both the West Coast and the Gulf Coast would be helpful.

另外在墨西哥灣沿岸，儘管 Port Arthur 有一些停工時間，但表現也比我們模型預期更強。你們對西岸與墨西哥灣沿岸兩者的看法都會很有幫助。

Joe, this is Randy. I'll touch on the crude side. Obviously, the combination of the refinery closures and recent production rate increases on some of the California domestic crude has left the market pretty well supplied. That's been exacerbated by the idling of the San Pablo pipeline. It moves crude into the Bay Area, forcing more of these domestic barrels are clear to the refineries in L.A. With these logistic bottlenecks, we have seen prices for California crude weakened considerably, and we've been working with our Wilmington refinery to increase processing rates of these barrels and anticipate any record levels of these crudes in the coming months.

Joe，我是 Randy。我先談原油端。顯然，煉廠關閉與近期加州部分國內原油產量提升的組合，使市場供應相當充裕。San Pablo 管線停運更讓這種情況加劇。該管線把原油運往灣區，迫使更多這些國內原油桶數必須一路清運到洛杉磯的煉廠。由於這些物流瓶頸，我們看到加州原油價格明顯走弱；我們也正與 Wilmington 煉廠合作，提高這些原油的加工量，並預期未來幾個月這些原油的加工量可能創下紀錄水準。

On the Gulf Coast, I would say really the tailwinds in the quarter that improved our capture rates, really, the first one was jet fuel. If you look in the second quarter of last year, our jet yield was 9%. Second quarter this year, we ramped that up to 12%, almost increased our yet yield by close to 100,000 barrels a day, which was really supportive of capture rates. In addition to that, as I've talked about, we see a real strong export market. And so those premiums into the export market also helped our capture rates as well.

在墨西哥灣沿岸，我會說本季推動因素（tailwinds）確實改善了我們的捕捉率（capture rates）。第一個其實是航空燃油。如果看去年第二季，我們的航煤收率是 9%。今年第二季我們把它拉升到 12%，航煤收率幾乎增加了接近 10 萬桶/日，這對捕捉率非常有支撐。此外，如我先前提到的，我們看到出口市場非常強勁，因此出口市場的溢價也同樣幫助了我們的捕捉率。

Great. And then could you just talk a bit about the impact of policy changes that we've seen recently. So in the past, you've talked about using the Jones Act to move some product from the Gulf Coast to the West Coast and other areas of the US. Would you expect this to continue to be extended?

很好。接著你們能否談談近期我們看到的政策變動所帶來的影響？過去你們曾提到利用《瓊斯法案》（Jones Act）把部分產品從墨西哥灣沿岸運到西岸及美國其他地區。你們預期這項措施會繼續被延長嗎？

Well, whether it's extended or not, I don't have a lot of insight. We will tell you that I think that's been critical to keeping PADD 1 and PADD 5 supplied. PADD 5. We saw the barrels coming from the Far East disappear. And so we certainly were moving barrels from our Corpus Christi refinery to PADD 5 to keep that market supply. Also, with the transatlantic arb close to send gasoline from Europe to PADD 1. And the Jones Act waiver has been very critical keeping PADD 1 supplied as well.

至於是否會延長，我沒有太多資訊。但我們可以告訴你，我認為這對維持 PADD 1 與 PADD 5 的供應至關重要。PADD 5。我們看到來自遠東的貨源消失了。因此我們確實把我們 Corpus Christi 煉廠的貨源運往 PADD 5，以維持該市場供應。另外，隨著跨大西洋套利窗口接近關閉，從歐洲把汽油運到 PADD 1 變得不划算。而《瓊斯法案》豁免對於維持 PADD 1 的供應也非常關鍵。

Doug Leggate, Wolfe Research.

Doug Leggate，Wolfe Research。

I seem to recall having a discussion with Homer about net debt 0 not so long ago, and it seemed unrealistic. So extraordinary times indeed. But my question, I've got two things I wanted to bring up, if you don't mind.

我似乎記得不久前和 Homer 討論過淨負債為 0 的事，當時看起來不太現實。所以確實是非常時期。不過我的問題是——如果你不介意——我有兩點想提出來。

First of all, we're just sitting here watching extraordinary margins. We don't know what the duration is. But you've got practically no net debt. I think you're kind of signaling our preparedness to be patient with building cash. Why is a rebalancing of dividends and buybacks not an appropriate thing to consider if you believe mid-cycle should be higher going forward?

首先，我們現在坐在這裡看著非常驚人的利差。我們不知道會持續多久。但你們幾乎沒有淨負債。我認為你們某種程度上在釋放訊號：你們準備好耐心地累積現金。如果你們相信未來的中周期水準應該更高，那麼重新平衡股利與庫藏股回購，為什麼不是一個適合考慮的做法？

Doug, it's Homer. I mean, I think ultimately, this comes down to a discretionary use of cash, right? Or really, it's discretionary use of excess cash.

Doug，我是 Homer。我的意思是，我認為歸根結底，這取決於現金的裁量性使用，對吧？或者更精確地說，是對超額現金的裁量性使用。

There's always going to be an underlying element of share repurchases and dividend to meet our minimum commitment of the 50% that we've laid out for our owners, right? Beyond that, you're looking at basically alternative uses of capital when you're looking at our broader capital allocation framework. And Lane obviously talked about the discipline we're going to have around growth investments, right, with the minimum return threshold, acquisitions we've talked about, they have to have good strategic value, right?

為了履行我們對股東所承諾的最低50%回饋（我們已向所有者說明），股份回購與股利發放始終會是資本回饋的基本組成，對吧？除此之外，當你看我們更廣泛的資本配置框架時，本質上是在看資本的其他替代用途。而Lane顯然也談到我們在成長投資上的紀律，對吧，包括最低報酬門檻；以及我們談過的併購，必須具備良好的策略價值，對吧？

And so -- let me rule out that part of our capital allocation framework, where we're not going to all of a sudden do growth or acquisitions just because we're flushing cash. That's obviously worked really well for us, and it's evident by -- if you look at our long-term return on invested capital or return on equity, it's well north of 15%, right? And so keep in mind, that includes all sustaining capital, not just growth capital. So that tells you our growth projects that have actually returned well in excess of that. So absent those uses, we're clearly not just going to have cash sit on our balance sheet, given, as you highlighted, are already low net leverage.

所以——讓我先把資本配置框架中的那一部分說清楚：我們不會因為現金充裕，就突然去做成長投資或併購。這對我們顯然一直運作得很好，從——如果你看我們長期的投入資本報酬率（ROIC）或股東權益報酬率（ROE），都遠高於15%，對吧？而且請記住，這包含所有維持性資本支出，不只是成長資本。所以這也告訴你，我們的成長專案實際上帶來的報酬遠高於那個水準。因此，在沒有那些用途的情況下，考量到如你所指出我們的淨槓桿已經很低，我們顯然不會讓現金只是躺在資產負債表上。

Now we've talked about this, and I recognize that at a higher share price accretion from buybacks is lower. But as we've demonstrated over the last decade, our disciplined approach has worked well, and we've had a return on share repurchases, that's in excess of 20%. And even at a higher share price, buyback sort of better use of cash than the alternatives I've talked about, especially given the fact that we're talking about excess cash here.

我們之前也談過這點，我也理解在股價較高時，回購帶來的增厚效果會比較低。但如同我們在過去十年所展現的，我們有紀律的方法運作良好，而且我們在股份回購上的報酬率超過20%。即便在較高股價下，相較於我提到的其他選項，回購仍算是更好的現金用途，尤其因為我們談的是超額現金。

On the dividend, obviously, we want to make sure that most important, it's sustainable through cycle. We also look at our dividend yield relative to our closest peers, and I think we're competitive there. And then we do want to show some level of annual growth. But we're going to be prudent around that annual growth again because we want to make sure that it's sustainable through the cycle. So I think you can expect our actions to be consistent with all of that.

至於股利，顯然我們最重要的是確保它能穿越景氣循環、具備可持續性。我們也會看我們的股利殖利率相對於最接近同業的水準，我認為我們在這方面具競爭力。此外，我們也希望展現一定程度的年度成長。但我們在年度成長上會保持審慎，因為我們同樣要確保它能穿越景氣循環、維持可持續性。所以我想你可以預期我們的作為會與上述原則一致。

That's all very fair. And I appreciate the answer more. My follow-up real quick. I hope maybe Gary could opine on this, but look, a month ago, diesel prices, gas oil prices mid-June were about 35%, 40% below where they are today. There are -- obviously, we all know what's been going on in the Middle East. But then we got a Russia export ban.

這些都很合理。也更感謝你詳細的回答。我很快追問一下。我希望Gary也能談談：你看，一個月前，6月中旬柴油價格、瓦斯油價格大約比今天低了35%、40%。當然，我們都知道中東發生了什麼事。但接著又出現俄羅斯的出口禁令。

And then I'm not actually quite sure where things stand right now, but we also then got a cessation of the restart of Chinese exports on products. And one of your peers the other day talked about the black swan or the wildcard of China came back into the market. So Gary, I wonder if you could just walk us through what your intelligence is telling us on those two dynamics because they seem to be pretty impactful to this near-term margin strength that we've seen just in the last couple of weeks?

然後我其實不太確定目前狀況如何，但我們也看到中國成品油出口重啟的進程又停止了。你們其中一家同業前幾天談到，中國回到市場是所謂的黑天鵝或不確定變數。所以Gary，我想請你帶我們梳理一下，你們掌握的情報對這兩個動態怎麼看？因為它們似乎對我們在過去幾週看到的短期利差走強相當有影響。

Yes, Doug, I'll start with China. We don't have a lot of insight into what's going on in China. But what we can tell you is despite the fact that they've raised their export quotas, our traders aren't really seeing any Chinese barrels leave the region. So we're not seeing a surge in Chinese exports.

好的，Doug，我先從中國談起。我們對中國正在發生的事情沒有太多洞見。但我們能告訴你的是，儘管他們提高了出口配額，我們的交易員並沒有真的看到有中國的貨（barrels）離開該區域。所以我們沒有看到中國出口激增。

In terms of diesel prices, I think you alluded to Ukraine and its impact on Russian exports. And that certainly had an impact as certainly some locations in South America that were pulling Russian diesel have come to the US Gulf Coast to pull the diesel which has caused prices to escalate.

至於柴油價格，我想你提到了烏克蘭以及它對俄羅斯出口的影響。這確實造成影響，因為南美一些原本拉取俄羅斯柴油的地區，轉而到美國墨西哥灣沿岸拉貨，導致價格上升。

I think the other thing that's happened, as you know, earlier in the year, you just saw such deep backwardation in the diesel market that it made export arbs difficult. We had high freight steep backwardation which made exports more challenging. And you had buyers who are wanting to sit on the market with the hope that we're going to be able to buy their resupply cheaper in the future. And as we get closer to the heating oil season, again, I think you see the buyers that are starting to come back into the market, realizing they need to buy in order to get inventories back in place before heating oil season hits. The combination of that with the further disruption in Russia is really what's caused the strength in diesel prices.

我認為另一個發生的事情是，如你所知，今年稍早柴油市場出現非常深度的逆價差（backwardation），使得出口套利（export arbs）變得困難。高運費加上陡峭的逆價差，使出口更具挑戰。同時買方傾向觀望市場，希望未來能以更便宜的價格補貨。而隨著接近取暖油季節，我想你會看到買方開始回到市場，意識到必須採購，才能在取暖油季到來前把庫存補回來。這些因素再加上俄羅斯進一步的供應干擾，正是推升柴油價格走強的原因。

Phillip Jungwirth, BMO Capital Markets.

BMO資本市場的Phillip Jungwirth。

First half turnaround CapEx ran about $374 million, which is pretty low relative to the $1 billion per year, you've been averaging over '25 and '24. It also looks like 3Q throughput guidance is going to be a bit higher than historical utilization. I know you don't talk about future turnarounds, but is their ability to push some of these out? And then just what's driving the lower first half spend to help frame a go-forward run rate?

上半年歲修資本支出（turnaround CapEx）約3.74億美元，相較於你們在2025年與2024年平均每年約10億美元，這個水準相當低。另外看起來第三季處理量（throughput）指引也會略高於歷史利用率。我知道你們不談未來的歲修，但是否有能力把其中一些往後延？另外，上半年支出較低的原因是什麼？有助於我們理解未來的常態化支出水準。

So I'll start. Really no thought on us in terms of delaying our maintenance. We have a fairly steady spend on turnaround activity, and that will continue. We found that really is important to execution to keeping those dates kind of set. So nothing different there. And in terms of the timing of spend, I think our guidance in terms of our CapEx will hold and it may be a little lighter or heavier from one quarter to the next.

我先回答。我們完全沒有延後維護的想法。我們在歲修活動上的支出相當穩定，而且會持續如此。我們發現把這些日期大致固定下來，對執行非常重要。所以這方面沒有任何不同。至於支出時點，我認為我們對資本支出（CapEx）的指引會維持不變，只是各季之間可能會稍微偏輕或偏重。

Okay. Great. And then there's been a lot of focus on mid-cycle cracks, historical averages. I wanted to ask about it more from the standpoint of just how much above a 10-year average crack, do you see industry really needing to invest in meaningful capacity growth being a bit facetious here, but roughly how much above historical mid-cycle you think is needed to support investment in the new refinery.

好的。很好。另外，市場一直很關注中周期裂解價差（mid-cycle cracks）與歷史平均。我想從另一個角度問：相對於10年平均裂解價差，你認為產業需要高出多少，才真的有必要投資有意義的產能成長——我有點開玩笑，但大概需要比歷史中周期高多少，才能支撐投資新煉油廠？

In terms of the new refinery, that number I don't have in front of me. It's -- you look at what the cost of some of this new capacity has been, it's very, very high. In terms of what we think it needs to be, I go back to this, I think we feel like hydroskimming capacity in Northwest Europe is needed to run in order to balance demand in the market. And so mid-cycle margins will have to be sufficient to incentivize hydroskimming capacity in Europe to run.

關於新煉油廠，那個數字我手邊沒有。你看看一些新增產能的成本，真的非常、非常高。至於我們認為需要到什麼程度，我回到這點：我們覺得西北歐的常壓簡易煉製（hydroskimming）產能需要運轉，才能平衡市場需求。因此，中周期利潤必須足以激勵歐洲的常壓簡易煉製產能投入運轉。

Paul Sankey, Sankey Research.

Paul Sankey，Sankey Research。

Homer, I appreciate that you're a CFO with a major problem of too much cash. The -- if I could just ask a couple of questions, which may be more industry-oriented. The first, you mentioned that feedstocks have been really a big driver between high product prices and feedstocks, I guess. And I was just wondering, one major impact has obviously been the SPR drawdown, which has fallen now from nearly 1.4 million barrels a day, it's more like $0.5 million. I just wondered, and I know this is not a Valero specific issue, more of an industry observation, what you're understanding about how the SPR will continue to draw down from here?

Homer，我很感謝你身為一位面臨「現金太多」這種重大問題的財務長。如果可以的話，我想問幾個問題，可能比較偏產業面。第一個，你提到原料（feedstocks）確實是高產品價格與原料之間的一個重要驅動因素，我想是這個意思。我只是想請教，其中一個主要影響顯然是戰略石油儲備（SPR）的釋出，目前已從接近每日140萬桶降到更像是50萬桶。我想問的是，而且我知道這不是 Valero 特定的議題、比較像是產業觀察，你對於 SPR 接下來將如何持續釋出，有什麼理解？

And secondly, again, on the kind of industry observation, and I know you won't comment on the side but for Valero specifically. The refineries in the US, obviously, have been running exceptionally well, also with a surprisingly high jet fuel yield. I was just wondering what your expectations are for turnaround season for the industry if we're going to have to start shutting stuff down more aggressively as we head into winter with a tight diesel market.

第二個，同樣是偏產業觀察，而且我知道你不會評論同業，但就 Valero 而言。美國的煉油廠顯然一直運轉得非常好，而且噴射燃料的產率也高得出乎意料。我想請教你對於產業檢修季（turnaround season）的預期：如果我們在柴油市場緊俏的情況下進入冬季，是否會需要更積極地關停一些裝置？

Paul, this is Randy. I'll start on the SPR question. I think when -- back in March, when Trump announced the release, it was 172 million barrels from the US SPR and we believe what's been committed and contracted so far is more like 130 million. So of that volume, we think there's around 40 million that's left under that allocation.

Paul，我是 Randy。我先回答 SPR 的問題。我想當時——回到3月，當 Trump 宣布釋出時，是從美國 SPR 釋出1.72億桶，而我們相信目前已承諾並簽約的量更接近1.30億桶。所以在那個配額之下，我們認為大約還剩4,000萬桶。

I know there's been a lot of discussion on what actually constitutes minimum. There's been some numbers thrown around it, it's 300 million or if it's 70 million. 300 million sounds a bit high, 70 million sounds a little low to us. But it's -- right now, it's difficult for us to say kind of what the minimum volume may be that they can draw the same down too.

我知道大家一直在討論到底什麼才算「最低」水位。有人提出一些數字，像是3億桶，或是7,000萬桶。3億桶聽起來有點高，7,000萬桶對我們來說又有點低。但——目前我們很難判斷他們能把儲備繼續釋出到的最低量會是多少。

Not a lot of insight on the turnaround activity. What we do see from the consultant data we have, it would show a little bit lighter turnaround season as we head into fall than is typical this year and a little heavier turnaround season next year.

至於檢修活動方面，沒有太多洞見。我們從手上的顧問資料看到的是，今年進入秋季的檢修季會比典型年份稍微輕一些，而明年的檢修季會稍微重一些。

Matthew Blair, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Company.

Matthew Blair，Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Company。

Do you see the RIN market in shortage this year? And if so, can you talk about the implications to your various businesses? If that was the case, it seems like RD profitability to be quite robust in the back half of the year. But then from the refining side, is there any concern that you would not be able to procure enough RINs to meet compliance in 2026?

你們認為今年 RIN 市場會出現短缺嗎？如果是的話，能否談談對你們各項業務的影響？如果真是如此，看起來 RD 的獲利能力在下半年會相當強勁。但從煉油端來看，是否擔心在2026年無法取得足夠的 RIN 以符合合規要求？

This is Eric. So I'll answer the first part. We do see the RIN market short. The bank being hit somewhere between the end of this year and sometime middle of next year, given the pace we're at. Everyone's looking at the June numbers, thinking, wow, those are exceptionally high. We should have no problem meeting it.

我是 Eric。我先回答第一部分。我們確實看到 RIN 市場偏短缺。以目前的速度來看，RIN 庫存（bank）可能會在今年底到明年年中之間某個時間點被用完。大家都在看6月的數據，覺得，哇，那些數字特別高。我們應該不會有任何達標問題。

Maybe what we see is you still had a lot of players that did not produce D4s in 1Q waiting on the RVO release, which came out in April. So 2026, in particular, is going to be a low production year versus the obligation, which means you will draw the bank. And so we see that as structurally keeping the D4 RIN high.

但我們看到的情況可能是：第一季仍有很多參與者沒有生產 D4，因為在等 RVO 的發布，而 RVO 是在4月才出來。所以特別是2026年，相對於義務量（obligation）會是一個低產量年份，這表示你會動用庫存（bank）。因此我們認為，這在結構上會讓 D4 RIN 維持在高位。

This is Lane. I think the only thing I'd add is we have our eye on if and when the bank runs out. And obviously, the RINs inside the crack, I don't think anybody knows what happens if it goes and feasible. And it could. I mean, at some point here with the way the RVO is and the amount of production that is the concern.

我是 Lane。我想我唯一要補充的是，我們一直在關注庫存（bank）何時、以及是否會用完。而且很明顯，當 RIN 被內嵌在裂解價差（crack）裡時，如果它變得不可行（不具可行性），我想沒有人知道會發生什麼。而它確實可能會發生。我的意思是，某個時間點，依照目前 RVO 的狀況以及產量的規模，這就是大家擔心的地方。

I mean, the only thing I would add on is some of this is going to be driven, at least on a policy side by impact to consumers, right? So if you -- you think about the way we think about it, the rent is in the crack, and that ultimately gets pushed on to consumers. And so it really becomes an affordability issue, right? And so when and if EPA takes action, we'll really probably be driven on how much this actually impacts consumers. So otherwise, I mean, we're well positioned on it.

我的意思是，我唯一還想補充的是，其中一部分至少在政策面會受到對消費者影響的驅動，對吧？所以如果你——你用我們的思考方式來看，這個「租金」（rent）是在裂解價差裡，最終會轉嫁給消費者。因此它就真的變成一個可負擔性（affordability）問題，對吧？所以 EPA 何時以及是否採取行動，很可能會取決於這件事對消費者實際造成多大影響。除此之外，我的意思是，我們在這方面的布局是很到位的。

Sounds good. And then I think you mentioned that you're working on some ethanol expansions. Can you share any sort of numbers around that, either like percent capacity growth or the 1 million-gallon expansion number. And then on the R&D side, are you also looking at like small debottlenecking projects or any sort of RD expansions?

了解。另外我想你提到你們正在做一些乙醇擴產。你能分享一些相關數字嗎？例如產能成長的百分比，或是像「增加100萬加侖」這類的擴產規模。然後在 RD 方面，你們是否也在看一些小型的去瓶頸（debottlenecking）專案，或任何形式的 RD 擴產？

So ethanol, we are looking at small to bottleneck projects to the extent of 100 million to 200 million gallons a year. That should all hit within the next year or two.

乙醇方面，我們在評估一些小型去瓶頸專案，規模大約是每年增加1億到2億加侖。這些應該都會在未來一到兩年內落地。

RD is a different outlook. I think given this constant conversation about where policy is going to be and how predictable policy is or isn't right now, there's not a lot of intent on expanding anything in RD.

RD 則是不同的展望。我想在目前政策走向、以及政策可預測性（或缺乏可預測性）持續被討論的情況下，對於在 RD 擴張任何東西，並沒有太多意願。

Conor Fitzpatrick, Bank of America.

Conor Fitzpatrick，美國銀行（Bank of America）。

So I mentioned earlier on the call, the RINs market is pretty short. It's somewhat hard to get to balancing it on paper just from domestic capacity. There might be some additional utilization to come from biodiesel or renewable diesel facilities, but probably the biggest swing source of supply from here is from exports and imports into the US. So I was just wondering what do you think is the biggest source of change for supply going forward? How do you -- in the event that we do balance the market soon? Where do you think the incremental gallons will come from.

如我先前在電話會議中提到的，RIN 市場相當短缺。僅從國內產能來看，在紙面上要把它平衡起來有點困難。生質柴油或再生柴油設施可能還有一些額外的利用率提升空間，但從現在起最大的供給擺動來源，可能是對美國的出口與進口。所以我想請教，你認為未來供給變化最大的來源會是什麼？如果我們很快就能讓市場達到平衡，你認為新增的加侖數會從哪裡來？

This is Eric. I think one of the challenges that's different than previously before you would have seen foreign imports pick up more quickly when you have the $1 blenders tax credit. And so foreign imports came in to capture that do, and that was the tax benefit that was in place prior to last year.

我是 Eric。我認為其中一個挑戰是，這跟以前不同：過去在有每加侖1美元的調和商稅收抵免（$1 blenders tax credit）時，你會看到海外進口更快增加。因此海外進口會進來以取得那個——也就是在去年之前存在的稅務優惠。

What's different now with this RVO and RIN driver is you have to be registered to generate RINs. And so a lot of these foreign importers are not registered to generate RINs. And so that will take an administrative step to do that.

這次這個 RVO 與 RIN 的驅動因素不同之處在於，你必須先完成註冊才能產生 RIN。因此，許多這些外國進口商並未註冊，無法產生 RIN。所以這需要先完成一個行政程序步驟。

You also have the elimination of all tax credit benefits to foreign imports. So the production tax credit does not give any benefit to imports. And with the recent announcements of additional tariffs, it just makes that hurdle more difficult. So you have no tax benefit on foreign imports plus this issue of it's RIN driven now, not tax driven. And so it's a different -- think of it as a pathway in order for foreign imports to get in. They eventually will because that will be needed to satisfy this RVO, but it's -- that is, I think, the main reason why we have not seen foreign imports pick up as rapidly as everyone expected.

你也看到對外國進口品的所有稅收抵免利益都被取消。因此，生產稅收抵免對進口品沒有任何好處。再加上近期宣布的額外關稅，只會讓這道門檻更難跨越。所以外國進口既沒有稅務利益，再加上現在是由 RIN 驅動，而不是由稅收驅動。因此這是不同的——可以把它想成外國進口要進來的一條途徑。它們最終會進來，因為為了滿足這個 RVO 會需要，但我認為，這就是為什麼我們沒有看到外國進口如大家預期那樣快速回升的主要原因。

Jason Gabelman, Cowen.

Jason Gabelman，Cowen。

I want to start on Russia and obviously, the disruptions there are benefiting the global product prices that we're seeing. If I recall the last time this happened in 2022, 2023, the Russian refineries came back, I think, a bit more quickly than what the market had anticipated. So do you have any sense on the extent of damage from these Russian plants and if they're going to be able to come back relatively quickly once the bombing stops or if it will be down for an extended period of time?

我想先從俄羅斯談起，顯然，那邊的中斷正在推升我們看到的全球成品油價格。如果我沒記錯，上一次在 2022、2023 年發生類似情況時，俄羅斯煉油廠的恢復速度似乎比市場預期更快一些。所以你們對這些俄羅斯工廠的受損程度有任何概念嗎？以及一旦轟炸停止，它們是否能相對快速恢復，還是會停擺很長一段時間？

Jason, this is Gary. The only thing I could tell you is currently, about 1.7 million to 1.9 million barrels a day of Russian capacity offline. If you look at the trend from May to June to July has gotten progressively worse, not better. And then what you hear is that Ukraine is now targeting in critical pieces of equipment where before they were shooting tanks. And so you can understand that you have a tank fire and you can recover quickly.

Jason，我是 Gary。我唯一能告訴你的是，目前大約有每日 170 萬到 190 萬桶的俄羅斯產能處於停擺狀態。如果你看 5 月到 6 月再到 7 月的趨勢，是逐步惡化，而不是改善。另外我們聽到的是，烏克蘭現在把目標對準關鍵設備部件，而之前他們是在打油罐。所以你可以理解，油罐起火通常可以很快恢復。

However, if they're taking out pieces of critical equipment, it could take a lot longer. So at least what we read, we don't have any direct insight into this, but it would seem like it takes longer rather than shorter for them to recover.

然而，如果他們摧毀的是關鍵設備部件，修復可能需要更長時間。所以至少就我們讀到的資訊而言——我們對此沒有任何直接洞見——但看起來他們的恢復時間會更長而不是更短。

Okay. Got it. My follow-up is on US policy. And the administration has done a number of things to try and reduce the amount -- the cost that consumers are paying at the pump, Jones Act, RVP waivers. Are there other kind of levers that the administration has and anything incremental you're hearing from them on a potential product export quota or ban?

好的。了解。我的追問是關於美國政策。政府已經做了不少事情，試圖降低消費者在加油站支付的金額——例如《瓊斯法案》、RVP 豁免。政府還有哪些其他槓桿？你們是否聽到任何增量訊息，例如可能對成品油出口設置配額或禁令？

This is Rich. I'll make an effort at answering that. I mean, we share the administration's goal of trying to keep fuel affordable for Americans. As you guys know, there's a lot of issues impacting the fuel prices right now. So we work with the administration closely to ensure that they understand the market dynamics and the impacts of all the various policy options they might be considering and make sure they're well understood. And we believe they're looking through for the ones that are really viable and work.

我是 Rich。我來嘗試回答這個問題。我的意思是，我們也認同政府希望讓美國民眾能負擔得起燃料的目標。各位也知道，目前影響燃料價格的因素很多。因此我們與政府密切合作，確保他們理解市場動態，以及他們可能考慮的各種政策選項所帶來的影響，並確保這些影響被充分理解。我們相信他們正在篩選真正可行且有效的選項。

And the Jones Act that you highlight is actually a really critical one. I mean, that's pretty strong Jones Act commitment -- waiver commitment here from the administration, and it's kept the West Coast and the East Coast wet. And I think it's really maximize the US as refining capacities out of the Gulf and allowed it to be shared to the other regions. So I think that's probably been one of the most critical ones.

你提到的《瓊斯法案》其實是非常關鍵的一項。我的意思是，政府在《瓊斯法案》上的承諾——豁免承諾——相當強，並且讓西岸與東岸的供應保持充足。我認為這確實最大化了美國墨西哥灣沿岸的煉油產能，並讓其能分享給其他地區。所以我認為這可能是最關鍵的措施之一。

There are other things that we are concerned about. There's there are the issues with the RVO and where will EPA settle in on that. There's a number of tax and tariff issues that have been kind of in place, particularly taxes on renewable feedstocks that would certainly help to get more and quicker feedstocks in.

還有其他我們擔心的事情。包括 RVO 的問題，以及 EPA 最終會在這方面定案到什麼水準。另外還有一些已經存在的稅收與關稅問題，特別是對可再生原料的課稅，若能調整，肯定有助於更快、更多地引入原料。

The RVO is going to drive a lot of the price (inaudible) gasoline, it already has. And so -- and then these uplifts and cracks that are caused by these SREs and the misallocation of misalignment that comes out of that is a problem. And so we're trying to make sure that they understand that those are not helping lower the price of fuel that they're increasing the price of fuel. And so we work with them closely, and I think they have a good strong understanding, and they do want energy dominance.

RVO 將推動很多（聽不清）汽油的價格，它其實已經在推動了。因此——另外，這些由 SRE 造成的溢價與裂解價差，以及由此帶來的錯配與資源錯置，是個問題。所以我們正努力確保他們理解，這些措施並沒有幫助降低燃料價格，反而是在提高燃料價格。因此我們與他們密切合作，我認為他們有很強的理解，而且他們確實希望能源主導。

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. And therefore, I would like to turn the call back over to Mr. Donovan for closing remarks.

我們已到達問答環節的結束。因此，我想把電話交回給 Donovan 先生作結語。

I just want to thank everyone for joining us today. And as always, feel free to contact our IR team if you have any questions. Have a wonderful day.

我只想感謝各位今天加入我們。一如往常，如有任何問題，歡迎聯絡我們的投資人關係（IR）團隊。祝各位有美好的一天。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束，您現在可以掛斷電話線。感謝您的參與。