Sanctions against Venezuela’s PdVSA’s oil exports is causing complications for U.S. importers including Valero. The company “still has some holes to fill in our supply plan” according to Valero’s Gary Simmons. That accounted for “about 20%” of PdVSA’s heavy sour crude oil needs in 2018 at its refineries in Louisiana and Texas. Valero’s seaborne shipments into those two states fell 9.2% in 2018 compared to 2017 to 29.2 million tons. Alternative suppliers to Valero which it worked with in 2018 included Mexico’s Pemex which supplied 5.3 million tons among others.