ACCRUED EXPENSES

Accrued expenses consisted of the following:



	June 30, 2018		December 31, 2017
Inventory-related accruals	$	1,138,913	$	1,151,810
Inventory intermediation agreements	227,740		244,287
Excise and sales tax payable	176,557		118,515
Accrued transportation costs	53,464		64,400
Renewable energy credit and emissions obligations	52,390		26,231
Accrued utilities	31,647		42,189
Accrued salaries and benefits	30,347		58,589
Accrued refinery maintenance and support costs	25,578		35,674
Customer deposits	22,670		16,133
Accrued capital expenditures	14,371		17,342
Accrued interest	10,516		9,466
Environmental liabilities	6,940		7,968
Other	27,601		8,255
Total accrued expenses	$	1,818,734	$	1,800,859

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 Inventory Intermediation Agreements with J. Aron. As of June 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, a liability is recognized for the Inventory Intermediation Agreements and 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 Cost of products and other.

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 and other current assets when the amount of RINs earned and purchased is greater than the RINs liability. In addition, the Company is subject to obligations to comply with federal and state legislative and regulatory measures, including regulations in the state of California pursuant to Assembly Bill 32 (“AB32”), to address environmental compliance and greenhouse gas and other emissions. These requirements include incremental costs to operate and maintain our facilities as well as to implement and manage new emission controls and programs. Renewable energy credit and emissions obligations fluctuate with the volume of applicable product sales and timing of credit purchases.