The Pension Protection Act (PPA), enacted in 2006, requires sponsors of defined benefit pension plans to provide plan participants with certain information about the funded status of their plan. The “Annual Funding Notice” meets the annual requirement. Before reviewing the Notice, it may be helpful for you to have some context for the information it includes. This cover memo should help you better understand the Funding Notice.

The Notice is not a notice of any intention of CITGO to change your benefits in any way. It is only to provide information to meet legal requirements.

Understanding the Annual Funding Notice
Defined benefit plans are designed to provide plan participants with a benefit at retirement based on the plan’s formula. In order to ensure sufficient funds exist to pay for these future retirement benefits, CITGO makes contributions to a trust fund. That money is set aside for plan benefits and invested based on established investment guidelines. The funding and investment policies are outlined in broad terms in the attached Notice. The timing of contributions is determined by federal guidelines. The amount of contributions is based on a review made by outside actuaries who look at both how much is in the trust (assets) and future obligations for benefits (liabilities). The asset and liability measures used by our outside actuaries to determine the company’s annual contributions to the plans are summarized in the “Funding Target Attainment Percentage” on page 1 of the Notice. These values are as of January 1 of the respective year.

For More Information About Your Benefits
If you have questions about this Notice or your benefits in general, please contact the Benefits HelpLine toll free at 1-888-443-5707 or by email at Benefits@citgo.com.

  Hourly Employees Retirement Plan

  Salaried Employees Pension Plan

  UNO-VEN Retirement Plan