SUGAR LAND--January 29, 2021--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--U.S. refiners had a tough fourth quarter in what was already a dismal 2020. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), global consumption of liquid fuels fell by 9 million barrels per day in 2020. News media outlets report that in the fourth quarter, crude oil benchmarks rallied more than 20%, squeezing U.S. refining margins to less than $10 a barrel on average for most of the quarter. To this end, refiner Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) (San Antonio, Texas) posted a fourth-quarter 2020 net loss of $359 million, compared with net income of $1.1 billion in the prior-year quarter.