ACCRUED EXPENSES

Accrued expenses consisted of the following:



	December 31, 2014		December 31, 2013
Inventory-related accruals	$	588,297	$	533,012
Inventory supply and intermediation arrangements	253,549		454,893
Accrued transportation costs	59,959		29,762
Accrued salaries and benefits	55,993		10,799
Excise and sales tax payable	40,444		42,814
Accrued construction in progress	31,452		33,747
Customer deposits	24,659		23,621
Accrued interest	22,946		22,570
Accrued utilities	22,337		25,959
Renewable energy credit obligations	286		15,955
Other	30,048		17,813
	$	1,129,970	$	1,210,945

The Company has the obligation to repurchase certain intermediates and finished products that are held in the Company’s refinery storage tanks in accordance with the Inventory Intermediation Agreements with J. Aron commencing in July 2013. As of December 31, 2014, a liability included in Inventory supply and offtake arrangements is recorded at market price for the J. Aron owned inventory held in the Company's storage tanks under the Inventory Intermediation Agreements, with any change in the market price being recorded in costs of sales.

Prior to July 1, 2013, the Company had the obligation to repurchase certain intermediates and lube products under its Offtake Agreements that were held in the Company’s refinery storage tanks. A liability included in Inventory supply and Offtake Arrangements was recorded at market price for the volumes held in storage consistent with the terms of the Offtake Agreements with any change in the market price recorded in costs of sales. The liability represented the amount the Company expected to pay to repurchase the volumes held in storage. The Company recorded a non-cash benefit of $20,248 and a non-cash charge of $11,619 related to this liability in the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

The Company is subject to obligations to purchase Renewable Identification Numbers ("RINs") required to comply with the Renewable Fuels Standard. The Company's overall RINs obligation is based on a percentage of domestic shipments of on-road fuels as established by the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"). To the degree the Company is unable to blend the required amount of biofuels to satisfy our RINs obligation, RINs must be purchased on the open market to avoid penalties and fines. The Company records its RINs obligation on a net basis in Accrued expenses when its RINs liability is greater than the amount of RINs earned and purchased in a given period and in Prepaid expenses and other current assets when the amount of RINs earned and purchased is greater than the RINs liability.