“As far as I know, there are only two refineries in the US that can handle the stuff: both Citgo, one in Lake Charles, LA and the other in Corpus Christie, TX. There may be one or two others around Houston maybe, but that’s it.”
Refineries in the US are optimized to handle a mixture of light and heavy crude.
“..Refineries in the US are optimized to handle a mixture of light and heavy crude....”
Generally speaking; yes.
However, the two that I mentioned were/are designed specifically to handle the heavy, nasty, dirty crap that’s considered oil out of Venezuela. I believe they’re even owned by Venezuela’s oil company.