RIN prices fall after White House RFS meeting
Compliance credits for federal fuel blending mandates tumbled to a two-year low today following a White House meeting on the program.
Senators representing both refiners and biofuel groups left a small White House meeting touting support from President Donald Trump on changes to US fuels policy. But details continued to elude all sides battling over the future of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
The Argus assessed cost for the basket of renewable identification numbers (RINs) used to prove compliance with the program fell below 4¢/USG for the first time since November 2015, closing today at 3.92¢/USG.
US senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Patrick Toomey (R-Pennsylvania) met with Trump today in the latest high level meeting on RFS over the past six months.
The White House had no immediate comment on a day that included exiting a joint treaty curtailing Iranian nuclear ambitions and proposing billions of dollars in changes to the US budget. EPA referred questions on the meeting to the White House.
Cruz and Toomey said Trump supported allowing exported biofuels to produce RINs, increasing the supply of credits without requiring any additional US consumption. A "final decision" supported by Trump would include RINs generated from exported ethanol in addition to gallons blended with domestic fuel, Cruz said in a tweet.
The idea, supported by US independent refiner Valero and repeatedly rejected by Grassley, Ernst, and other agriculture-state senators, would increase the supply of RINs without increasing domestic consumption of the fuel.
Adding RINs to exports would face immediate legal and trade challenges, Renewable Fuels Association chief executive Bob Dinneen said today. Farmers and biofuel producers would bear the brunt of complaints from other countries.
"In no way will that ever be acceptable or considered a win for our industry," Dinneen said
Grassley focused on continued support for EPA to relax air quality standards preventing the sale of 15pc ethanol blends of gasoline in the peak summer driving months.
The group also discussed preventing deep cuts to US renewable fuels demand from EPA waivers to the mandates for small refineries, Grassley said. Such a revision would face immediate legal challenges following the record number of refineries receiving exemptions this year, refinery sources said. Such a change would undo any relief sought by refiners, Toomey said.
Senators were waiting for more details from Pruitt and from US agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue.
"Any fix can not hurt domestic biofuels production," Grassley said following the meeting.
Four previous high-level meetings on the program ended without compromise or a change in policy. An April session with Pruitt and Perdue neither determined a path forward for the administration nor returned the issue to Congress, where legislators say the program's future belongs.
Compliance costs associated with the program have tumbled as the high-level meetings progressed. Argus-assessed costs associated with the program have fallen from 10.1¢/USG at the beginning of December to today's 3.92¢/USG close.
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US job growth nearly halved in April: Update
US job growth nearly halved in April: Update
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US biofuel groups challenge EU SAF regulation
US biofuel groups challenge EU SAF regulation
London, 3 May (Argus) — US biofuel groups Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy and US Grains Council and ethanol-to-jet producer LanzaJet have joined European renewable ethanol producers in their challenge to the ReFuelEU aviation regulation. The legal challenge, launched by ePure and Pannonia Bio in February, demands an annulment of the sections that exclude crop-based biofuels from the definition of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The regulation allows for SAF produced from biofuels, referring to point 33 in Article 2 of the bloc's recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) which includes "liquid fuel for transport produced from biomass". But it excludes biofuels produced from "food and feed crops". The US groups have filed an "application for leave to intervene" before the General Court of the EU, arguing that the regulation would "have a detrimental effect on the US ethanol industry". "The contested provisions give rise to a de facto ban on the supply of crop-based biofuels to the aviation sector in the EU" the associations said. Earlier this year ePure also challenged the bloc's FuelEU maritime regulation, which aims to boost the use of green bunker fuels, for excluding food and feed crop-based fuels from its certification process. By Evelina Lungu Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US job growth nearly halved in April
US job growth nearly halved in April
Houston, 3 May (Argus) — The US added fewer jobs in April as the unemployment rate ticked up and average earnings growth fell, signs of gradually weakening labor market conditions. The US added 175,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department reported today, fewer than the 238,000 analysts anticipated. That compared with an upwardly revised 315,000 jobs in March and a downwardly revised 236,000 jobs in February. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9pc from 3.8pc. The unemployment rate has ranged from 3.7-3.9pc since August 2023, near the five-decade low of 3.4pc. The latest employment report comes after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday held its target lending rate unchanged for a sixth time and signaled it would be slower in cutting rates from two-decade highs as the labor market has remained "strong" and inflation, even while easing, is "still too high". US stocks opened more than 1pc higher today after the jobs report and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.47pc. Futures markets showed odds of a September rate cut rose by about 10 percentage points to about 70pc after the report. Average hourly earnings grew by 3.9pc over the 12 month period, down from 4.1pc in the period ended in March. Job gains in the 12 months through March averaged 242,000. Gains, including revisions, averaged 276,000 in the prior three-month period. Job gains occurred in health care, social services and transportation and warehousing. Health care added 56,000 jobs, in line with the gains over the prior 12 months. Transportation and warehousing added 22,000, also near the 12-month average. Retail trade added 20,000. Construction added 9,000 following 40,000 in March. Government added 8,000, slowing from an average of 55,000 in the prior 12 months. Manufacturing added 9,000 jobs after posting 4,000 jobs the prior month. Mining and logging lost 3,000 jobs. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Oregon renewable diesel pours into CFP bank
Oregon renewable diesel pours into CFP bank
Houston, 2 May (Argus) — Rising renewable diesel deliveries helped grow the volume of Oregon Clean Fuels Program (CFP) credits available for future compliance by a record 30pc in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to state data released today. The roughly 253,000 metric tonne (t) increase in available credits from the previous quarter — bringing the total to 1.1mn t — illustrates the spreading influence of US renewable diesel capacity on markets offering the most incentives for their output. California and Oregon low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) credit prices have tumbled as renewable diesel deliveries generate a surge of credits in excess of immediate deficit needs. LCFS credits do not expire. LCFS programs require yearly reductions to transportation fuel carbon intensity. Higher-carbon fuels that exceed the annual limits incur deficits that suppliers must offset with credits generated from the distribution to the market of approved, lower-carbon alternatives. Renewable diesel volumes in Oregon increased by 12pc from the previous quarter to about 37,000 b/d — more than double the volume reported in the fourth quarter of 2022. The fuel represented 24pc of the Oregon liquid diesel pool for the period, while petroleum diesel fell to 75pc. Renewable diesel generated 46pc of all new credits for the quarter, compared to the 14pc from the next-highest contributor, biodiesel. Deficit generation meanwhile shrank from the previous quarter. Gasoline deficits fell by 6.6pc from the third quarter as consumption fell by roughly the same amount. Gasoline use trailed the fourth quarter of 2022 by 7.1pc. Diesel deficits also shrank as renewable alternatives push it out of the Oregon market. Petroleum diesel deficits fell by 19pc from the previous quarter and consumption was 27pc lower than the fourth quarter of 2022. Spot Oregon credits have fallen by half since late September, when state data offered the first indications that renewable diesel that was already inundating the California market had found its way to the smaller Oregon pool. The quarter marks the first time Oregon credits available for future compliance have exceeded 1mn t. Oregon in 2022 approved program targets extending into next decade that target a 20pc reduction by 2030 and a 37pc reduction by 2035. An ongoing rulemaking process this year will consider changes to how the state calculates the carbon intensity of fuels and verifies the activity of participants, but will not touch annual targets. By Elliott Blackburn Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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