Professor Elam

Valero Refining VLO lost over $2 billion this past year. Most of that was a one time loss due to closing a Delaware Refinery. But VLO still lost money on an operating basis. The price of oil doubled from its lows last January. But the price of gasoline only moved up about 50%. So there was not enough margin for VLO to buy the oil, refine it, and sell it as gasoline. Worse, cheaper imported gasoline forced closing the Delaware operation. 

This is why we study accounting, to better understand financial reporting. We will be studying derivatives and hedging this semester. VLO certainly worked to attempt to make money but despite their best efforts, all the king's horses and men still lost money, even trying to hedge their bets so to speak.