Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to Valero's second quarter 2022 earnings conference call. [Operator instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Homer Bhullar, vice president, investor relations.

Thank you. Please go ahead.

Homer Bhullar -- Vice President, Investor Relations

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Valero Energy Corporation's second quarter 2022 earnings conference call. With me today are Joe Gorder, our chairman and CEO; and Lane Riggs, our president and COO; Jason Fraser, our executive vice president and CFO; Gary Simmons, our executive vice president and chief commercial officer; and several other members of Valero's senior management team. If you have not received the earnings release and would like a copy, you can find one on our website at investorvalero.com. Also attached to the earnings release are tables that provide additional financial information on our business segments and reconciliations and disclosures for adjusted metrics mentioned on this call.

If you have any questions after reviewing these tables, please feel free to contact our Investor Relations team after the call. I would now like to direct your attention to the forward-looking statement disclaimer contained in the press release. In summary, it says that statements in the press release and on this conference call that state the company's or management's expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements intended to be covered by the safe harbor provisions under federal securities laws. There're many factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations, including those we've described in our filings with the SEC.

Now I'll turn the call over to Joe for opening remarks.

Joe Gorder -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Homer, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to report that our team maximized refining run rates in the second quarter while executing our long-standing commitment to safe, reliable, and environmentally responsible operations. In fact, we've been increasing throughput since 2020 as demand recovered along with the easing of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Our refinery utilization rate increased from the pandemic low of 74% in the second quarter of 2020 to 94% in the second quarter of 2022.

Refining margins in the second quarter were supported by continued strength in product demand, coupled with low product inventories and continued energy cost advantage for U.S. refineries compared to global competitors. Product supply is constrained as a result of significant refinery capacity rationalization that was triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, driving the shutdown of marginal refineries and conversion of several refineries to produce low carbon fuels. In addition, the Russia, Ukraine conflict intensified the supply tightness with less Russian products in the global market.