ACCRUED EXPENSES

Accrued expenses consisted of the following:



	March 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Inventory-related accruals	$	583,287	$	548,800
Inventory supply and intermediation arrangements	274,668		252,380
Accrued transportation costs	87,972		91,546
Renewable energy credit obligations	45,729		19,472
Excise and sales tax payable	41,110		34,129
Customer deposits	26,656		20,395
Accrued utilities	24,780		25,192
Accrued interest	23,143		22,313
Accrued salaries and benefits	12,290		61,011
Accrued construction in progress	6,709		7,400
Other	44,050		34,797
Total accrued expenses	$	1,170,394	$	1,117,435

The Company has the obligation to repurchase certain intermediates and finished products that are held in the Company’s refinery storage tanks at the Delaware City and Paulsboro refineries in accordance with the A&R Intermediation Agreements with J. Aron & Company, a subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ("J. Aron"). As of March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, a liability is recognized for the Inventory supply and intermediation arrangements and is recorded at market price for the J. Aron owned inventory held in the Company's storage tanks under the A&R Inventory Intermediation Agreements, with any change in the market price being recorded in cost of sales.

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 its 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.