Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2023

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Reclassifications

Certain amounts in the prior years’ unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation.

Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash include all highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less at the time of purchase.

Restricted cash represents cash that is legally restricted under the MRL Term Loan Credit Agreement, and it is included in prepaid expenses and other current assets in the condensed consolidated balance sheets because it is only available to make principal and interest payments under the terms of the agreement.

Renewable Identification Numbers (“RINs”) Obligation

The Company’s RINs volume obligation (“RVO” or “RINs Obligation”) is an estimated provision if future purchase of RINs were to be required in order to satisfy the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) requirement to blend

renewable fuels into certain transportation fuel products pursuant to the Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) of the Clean Air Act (“CAA”). The Company has historically not been obligated to make these purchases. A RIN is a 38-character number assigned to each physical gallon of renewable fuel produced in or imported into the United States. The EPA sets annual volume obligations for the percentage of renewable fuels that must be blended into transportation fuels consumed in the U.S. Compliance is demonstrated by tendering RINs to the EPA documenting that blending has been accomplished or by obtaining a Small Refinery Exemption as provided in the Clean Air Act. The Company has historically received the Small Refinery Exemption after qualifying on the merits. Future exemptions are the subject of future annual applications. The RIN obligation is a quantity, and cannot be settled financially.

The Company accounts for its current period RVO by multiplying the quantity of RINs shortage (based on actual results) by the period end RINs spot price, which is recorded as both a current and long-term liability in the condensed consolidated balance sheets. These liabilities are revalued at the end of each subsequent accounting period, which produce non-cash mark-to-market adjustments that are reflected in cost of sales in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations (with the exception of RINs for compliance year 2019 related to the San Antonio refinery, which amount is reflected in other operating expense in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations). RINs generated by blending may be sold or held to offset future RVO. Any gains or losses from RINs sales are recorded in cost of sales in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations. The liabilities associated with the Company’s RVO are considered recurring fair value measurement.

The RFS provision of the CAA allows small refineries to apply at any time for a Small Refinery Exemption (“SRE”) from the renewable blending requirements, and we have applied in respect of compliance years 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

In September 2022, EPA finalized, and in July 2023, EPA amended, an alternative RIN retirement schedule for small refineries as set forth below:

Compliance Year	RINs Retirement Due Date
2019	Calumet carried forward its 2019 RVO into the 2020 compliance year as provided under the RFS. Calumet’s 2019 RVO is now due with the 2020 RVO.
2020	Under the Alt RIN Retirement schedule, five installments of 20% are due: February 1, 2023 May 1, 2023 August 1, 2023 November 1, 2023 February 1, 2024 However, the Fifth Circuit has granted the Shreveport refinery’s motion to stay enforcement while the appeal is pending. A similar motion regarding the Montana refinery was granted by the D.C. Circuit.
2021	March 31, 2023
2022	December 1, 2023

2018 RVO. In April 2022, EPA issued new decisions denying 36 petitions from small refineries seeking SREs for program year 2018 that had been remanded by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to EPA. EPA had previously granted 31 of these 36 petitions in August 2019, including petitions from the Company. Concurrent with the April 2022 denial action, EPA provided an alternate compliance approach to allow these 31 small refineries to meet their 2018 compliance obligations without purchasing or redeeming additional RINs. In April 2022, the Company filed a petition for review of EPA’s denial of the 2018 SRE petition for the Shreveport refinery in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In June 2022, the Company filed a petition for review of EPA’s denial of the 2018 SRE petition for the Montana refinery in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and filed a protective petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging the EPA’s denials of both the Shreveport and Montana refineries’ petitions. Upon a motion made by EPA, the Ninth Circuit dismissed the Company’s appeal of the denial of the Montana refinery’s 2018 SRE petition for improper venue in favor of the D.C. Circuit appeal. EPA filed a similar motion to dismiss or transfer in the Fifth Circuit; however, the Fifth Circuit denied EPA’s motion and ordered the merits panel to consider both the merits of the appeal and the venue question raised by EPA. These 2018 RVO appeals have been consolidated with the 2019-2020 RVO appeals described below.

2019-2020 RVO. In June 2022, EPA issued final decisions denying 69 pending petitions from small refineries seeking SREs for compliance years 2016 to 2021, including petitions submitted by the Company seeking exemptions for program years 2019 and 2020, based on an across-the-board determination that no small refinery suffers disproportionate economic hardship from the RFS program, a contention which was subsequently rejected by the Government Accountability Office. In September 2022, EPA finalized an alternative RIN retirement schedule for small refineries as set forth above. The alternative RIN retirement schedule allows the use of RINs generated in post-2020 compliance years to meet the 2020 RFS obligations. The Company’s small refineries are eligible to use this alternative schedule. In August 2022, the Company filed a petition for review of EPA’s denial of the 2019 and 2020 SRE petitions for the Shreveport refinery in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and a petition for review of EPA’s denial of the 2019 and 2020 SRE petitions for the Montana refinery in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Company again filed a protective petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging both of the EPA’s denials. These appeals have been consolidated with the applicable program year 2018 appeals. Upon a motion made by EPA, the Ninth Circuit transferred the Company’s Montana appeal, which is now pending in the D.C. Circuit. The Fifth Circuit denied EPA’s request to dismiss or transfer the appeal, ruling that merits panel will also consider EPA’s argument that the Shreveport refinery appeals should be transferred to the D.C. Circuit. The Company filed motions in both appeals asking the circuit courts to stay the Company’s 2019 and 2020 RFS obligations while the merits appeals are pending. In January 2023, the Fifth Circuit granted the Company’s motion for stay relating to the Shreveport refinery, and in March 2023, the D.C. Circuit granted the Company’s motion for stay relating to the Montana refinery. The stays granted by each of the respective circuits hold that the Company is likely to be successful on the merits of its appeals.

2021-2022 RVO. In October 2022, Calumet applied for SREs for 2021 and 2022 compliance years. In April 2023, the Company filed for injunctive relief in both the District Court of Montana and the Western District Court of Louisiana to force EPA to make a decision on the Montana and Shreveport refineries’ joint 2021 and 2022 SRE applications. In July 2023, EPA issued final decisions denying 26 pending petitions from small refineries seeking SREs for compliance years 2016 to 2023, including petitions submitted by the Company seeking exemptions for program years 2021 and 2022, based on the same approach and analysis described in the June 2022 denials. An effect of the denials is to make the district court actions moot, and the Company voluntarily dismissed those actions. The Company filed appeals of the denials with the Fifth Circuit and D.C. Circuit. In September 2023, the Fifth Circuit granted the Company’s motion for stay relating to the Shreveport refinery for its appeal of the denial for program years 2021 and 2022, and in October 2023, the D.C. Circuit granted the Company’s motion for stay relating to the Montana refinery’s appeal of the denial for program years 2021 and 2022.

Expenses related to RFS compliance have the potential to remain a significant expense for the Specialty Products and Solutions and Montana/Renewables segments. If legal or regulatory changes occur that have the effect of increasing the RINs Obligation, increasing the market price of RINs, or eliminating or narrowing the availability of SREs, the Company could be required to purchase additional RINs in the open market, which may materially increase the costs related to RFS compliance and could have a material adverse effect on the results of operations and liquidity.

As of September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the Company had a RINs Obligation recorded on the condensed consolidated balance sheets of $342.8 million and $476.8 million, respectively.