CITGO Reports First Quarter 2021 Results

HOUSTON, May 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CITGO Petroleum Corporation ("CITGO") today reported its first quarter 2021 performance results, including a net loss of $180 million, an EBITDA loss of $(21) million and Adjusted EBITDA¹ of $10 million. The quarter marked the first positive quarterly Adjusted EBITDA for CITGO since the full onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

The company's overall quarterly performance was affected primarily by its February results, which were negatively impacted by the effects of Winter Storm Uri and accounted for approximately two-thirds of the total net loss for the quarter. The storm disrupted approximately six million barrels of industry refining capacity, which included a forced, complete shutdown of the Corpus Christi refinery for approximately two weeks. As a result, CITGO incurred approximately $21 million in repair costs during the quarter. We estimate our excess energy and other utility costs to be approximately $60 million as a result of the storm. 

"We carefully managed our expenses and liquidity to address the unique challenges of 2020, but Uri brought a whole new set of operational challenges that hit our people and our refineries hard," said CITGO President and CEO Carlos Jordá. "Our response to February's record-breaking cold snap once again demonstrated our resilience as a company, providing yet another example of how CITGO comes together as a team."

Overall improvements in performance for the quarter were driven by improved margins and increased refinery utilization, which rose to 83% during the first quarter from 75% during the fourth quarter of the prior year. With the negative effects of the winter storm having receded, CITGO saw significant improvements in utilization and margins during March.

"With the winter storm impacts behind us, we are encouraged by strengthening demand, improving margins and higher utilizations as we look beyond the first quarter," said Jordá.

First quarter highlights:

Strategic and Operational

• Refinery Throughput – Total refinery throughput in the first quarter was 693,000 barrels-per-day (bpd), including 54,000 bpd of intermediate feedstocks, resulting in an overall crude utilization of 83%.
• Exports – First quarter refined products exports averaged 99,000 bpd and were affected primarily by refinery disruptions from February's winter storm and continued COVID-related effects on demand in other countries.
• Operational Excellence – The CITGO Corpus Christi refinery earned the 2020 ENERGY STAR^®designation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the second year in a row. These back-to-back certifications highlight CITGO Corpus Christi as a leader in energy and environmental management in the petroleum industry, and reflect the company's drive to reduce emissions, increase efficiency, and achieve high environmental performance.

Notable Personnel Changes -- On February 12, 2021, Jose R. Pocaterra was elected Chairman of the CITGO Petroleum Corporation Board of Directors. Luisa Palacios resigned from the CITGO Petroleum Board of Directors effective March 31, 2021 to pursue a full-time position at an academic institution. Steven Scarpino joined CITGO on April 22, 2021 as the first full time Chief Compliance & Ethics Officer in the history of CITGO, reporting directly to CITGO President and CEO Carlos Jordá and with direct reporting access to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.

Financial

• Continued Cost Management – To preserve liquidity in the first half of the year, 70% of capital, turnaround and catalyst spend is planned in the second half of 2021.  
• Refinancing – On February 11, 2021, CITGO successfully completed a private offering of $650 million aggregate principal amount of 6.375% senior secured notes due 2026 in a transaction that was significantly oversubscribed with participation from a broad and diverse group of investors. Net proceeds from the offering, together with cash on hand, were used to redeem all $650 million of the Company's existing 6.25% senior secured notes due 2022 and to pay fees and expenses in connection with the offering.

Industry Overview:

Changes in key drivers during the year include the following:

• Oil demand – Q1 U.S oil demand was 18.5 MMBPD, down slightly from Q42020. Similarly, global oil demand remained flat from Q4 2020 to Q1 2021 at 95.3 MMBPD due to ongoing COVID containment challenges elsewhere in the world. In 2021, oil demand is expected to increase.
• Gasolinedemand – Q1 U.S gasoline demand was approximately 535 MBPD below 2019 level at the end of April (~6% under). With the increase in vaccinations leading to increased mobility in the U.S., gasoline demand is expected to reach within 2-3% of 2019 levels by year end.
• Distillate demand – Q1 U.S. diesel demand was approximately 4% under Q1 2019 but 2% improved over Q1 2020. For the month of April diesel demand was 2% above 2019.
• Jet fuel demand - Q1 U.S. jet fuel demand increase continued on a slow and steady path, landing at 35% under Q1 2019 compared with 38% under Q42020. With increasing vaccinations, consumer confidence in domestic travel is increasing; however, existing and emerging international hot spots are expected to result in a choppy recovery on an overall basis. Global jet fuel demand is now expected to be 20-30% below 2019 levels for full year 2021.
• Refinery utilization – Q1 U.S. refinery utilization averaged only 78%, partially due to approximately 6 MMBPD of refining capacity shut down by Winter Storm Uri. April posted the highest month since the pandemic began at 85% utilization. With improved product demand, utilization for the remainder of the year is expected to be about 5% below the historical seasonal range of 85-95%.

About CITGO 
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, CITGO Petroleum Corporation owns and operates three large-scale, highly complex refineries, with a combined crude capacity of approximately 769,000 barrels-per-day, located in Lake Charles, La.; Lemont, Ill.; and Corpus Christi, Texas, has ownership/equity interest in 40 active refined product storage and transfer terminals, and has access to over 120 third-party and related party terminals through exchange, terminaling and similar arrangements. CITGO Petroleum Corporation is owned by CITGO Holding, Inc.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information included in this release may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements" under applicable securities and other laws that involve risks and uncertainties.  These statements relate to, among other things, expectations regarding our industry, business strategy, goals and expectations concerning our market position and future operations or performance.  We have used the words "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "will," "would" and similar terms and phrases to identify forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release.

Any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current conditions (including current market conditions), expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. Although we believe the assumptions upon which these forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of these assumptions could prove to be inaccurate, and the forward-looking statements based on these assumptions could be incorrect. In addition, our business and operations involve numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could result in our expectations not being realized or could otherwise materially affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We caution readers that these forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results that are projected, expressed or implied. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks related to the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, general economic activity, developments in international and domestic petroleum markets, and refinery turnarounds and operations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements contained in this release are made only as of the date of this release.  We disclaim any duty to update any forward-looking statements.

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SOURCE CITGO Corporation