By Nicole Jao and Vallari Srivastava
NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Valero Energy said on Thursday it has engaged with three authorized sellers of Venezuelan crude oil, as the refiner moves to secure discounted
heavy crude following Caracas' agreement with Washington to export up to 50 million barrels.
U.S. refiners are expected to benefit significantly from President Donald Trump's efforts to boost output in Venezuela and rebuild the country's dilapidated oil sector following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro earlier in January.
"We are evaluating Venezuelan crude like we always do for all of our alternatives," said Randy Hawkins, vice president of crude and feedstocks supply and trading, during a call with investors.
"Looking forward, we've already engaged with the three authorized sellers of crude, and we've purchased barrels from all three," he said.
The refiner did not disclose who the sellers are, but said it expects Venezuelan crude to make up "a pretty large part" of its refinery's heavy diet in the coming months.
The San Antonio-based company kicked off the earnings season for U.S. refiners earlier on Thursday.
The company ran as much as 240,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan heavy crude in its refining system prior to an expansion project at its 435,000-bpd refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, in 2023, which substantially increased its processing capability of heavy crude oil, Hawkins said.
"We expect our Venezuelan processing capability to be substantially north of that number,” he said.
(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru and Nicole Jao in New York; Editing by Sahal Muhammed and Nia Williams)
