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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2025
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies  
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

3. 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 as of March 31, 2025 represents cash that is restricted under the Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Agreement (the “DOE Loan”) because it is only available to make certain investments under the terms of the DOE Loan.

Restricted cash as of December 31, 2024 represented cash that was legally restricted under the Montana Renewables, LLC (“MRL”) Term Loan Credit Agreement because it was 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 (“SRE”) as provided in the Clean Air Act. Prior to 2018, the Company historically received the Small Refinery Exemption after qualifying on the merits. The Company’s petitions for the Small Refinery Exemption for compliance years 2018-2022 were included in blanket denials by EPA across the entire industry. EPA’s denials of Calumet’s 2018-2020 petitions have been overturned in litigation, as described below, and are back pending with EPA. EPA’s denials of the Montana refinery’s 2021 and 2022 petitions have been remanded to EPA by the D.C. Circuit. The Shreveport refinery’s appeal challenging EPA’s denials for program years 2021 and 2022 remains pending in the Fifth Circuit. Separate appeals of EPA’s denials of Shreveport and Montana’s 2023 petitions remain pending in the Fifth and Ninth Circuits, respectively, and those courts have stayed Calumet’s obligations during the appeals. The 2024--2025 petitions have not yet been decided by EPA.

The RVO is a quantity and cannot be settled financially with EPA. 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 a current liability in the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets and revalued at the end of each subsequent accounting period, which produces 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.

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 retiring 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 EPA’s denials of both the Shreveport and Montana refineries’ petitions. Upon a motion made by EPA, the Ninth Circuit dismissed the Company’s petition for review of the denial of the Montana refinery’s 2018 SRE petition for improper venue in favor of the D.C. Circuit case. EPA filed a similar motion to dismiss or transfer in the Fifth Circuit; however, the Fifth Circuit ultimately ordered the merits panel to consider both the merits of the case and the venue question raised by EPA. These 2018 RVO cases were consolidated with the 2019-2020 RVO cases 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 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 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 also filed a protective petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging both of EPA’s denials. These cases have been consolidated with the applicable program year 2018 cases. Upon a motion made by EPA, the Ninth Circuit transferred the Company’s Montana case to the D.C. Circuit. The Fifth Circuit denied EPA’s request to dismiss or transfer the Shreveport case, ruling that the merits panel would also consider EPA’s argument that the Shreveport refinery case should be transferred to the D.C. Circuit. The Company filed motions asking the courts to stay the Company’s 2019 and 2020 RFS obligations while the merits cases 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 held that the Company is likely to be successful on the merits of its appeals.

In November 2023, the Fifth Circuit issued its decision and found that venue is proper in the Fifth Circuit and that EPA’s denial of the Shreveport refinery’s petitions for program years 2018-2020 was improper. The Fifth Circuit vacated EPA’s denials and remanded the petitions to EPA. The judicial stay of the Shreveport refinery’s 2019 and 2020 RFS obligations dissolved when the mandate issued in January 2024, and the refinery’s SRE petitions remain pending on remand. In July 2024, the D.C. Circuit issued its decision, finding that EPA’s denial of the Montana Refinery’s petitions for program years 2018-2020 was improper and vacating and remanding EPA’s 2018-2020 denials. The judicial stay of the Montana refinery’s 2019 and 2020 RFS obligations dissolved when the mandate issued in September 2024, and the refinery’s SRE petitions remain pending on remand.

In May 2024, EPA filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court with respect to only the venue portion of the Fifth Circuit’s decision. The Supreme Court granted EPA’s petition in October 2024 and heard oral argument on March 25, 2025. The Supreme Court has not yet rendered a decision.  

2021-2022 RVO. In October 2022, Calumet applied for SREs for the 2021 and 2022 compliance years. In July 2023, EPA issued final decisions denying 26 pending petitions from small refineries seeking SREs for compliance years 2016 to 2023, including the 2021 and 2022 petitions for the Montana and Shreveport refineries, based on the same approach and analysis described by EPA in its June 2022 denials. The Company then filed petitions for review of the denials with the Fifth Circuit and D.C. Circuit and filed motions asking the courts to stay the Company’s 2021 and 2022 RFS obligations. In September 2023, the Fifth Circuit granted the Company’s motion for stay of the Shreveport refinery’s 2021 and 2022 RFS obligations while the case is pending; and in October 2023, the D.C. Circuit granted the Company’s motion for stay of the Montana refinery’s 2021 and 2022 RFS obligations. The D.C. Circuit remanded EPA’s denials of the Montana refinery’s 2021 and 2022 petitions back to EPA. The Company’s challenge of the denial of the Shreveport refinery’s petitions for program years 2021 and 2022 remains pending in the Fifth Circuit.

2023 RVO. In December 2023, Calumet applied for SREs for the 2023 compliance year. In July 2024, 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 those 2023 SRE petitions. In January 2025, EPA denied the Company’s 2023 SRE petitions. Calumet appealed the denials to the Fifth Circuit and the Ninth Circuit. Both courts have stayed Calumet’s 2023 RFS obligations while the appeals are pending.

2024-2025 RVO. In June 2024, Calumet applied for SREs for the 2024 and 2025 compliance years. EPA has yet to issue decisions on those SRE petitions.

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 March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, the Company had a RINs Obligation recorded on the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets of $362.6 million and $245.4 million, respectively.

C-Corp Conversion

As described in Note 2 — “Description of the Business,” on the closing date of the C-Corp Conversion, the Company issued (i) approximately 80.4 million shares of Common Stock to holders of the Common Units and (ii) 5.5 million shares of Common Stock and 2.0 million warrants to purchase common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share (subject to adjustment) on or prior to July 10, 2027 to the Sponsor Parties, in each case, pursuant to the Conversion Agreement. The Company accounted for the C-Corp Conversion as a common control transaction and there were no changes in basis to the net assets recognized at the closing of the transaction. Further, the C-Corp Conversion did not result in a change in the reporting entity, and as such, the transaction was accounted for on a prospective basis in the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements. The 2.0 million warrants to purchase common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share (subject to adjustment) are included in Stockholders’ Equity on the condensed consolidated balance sheets with a balance of $7.8 million for the periods ended March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively. Refer to Note 11 — “Fair Value Measurements” for additional information related to the assumptions and inputs used to determine the fair value of the warrants.

Refer to Note 14 — “Income Taxes” for additional information regarding income tax considerations resulting from the C-Corp Conversion.

Sale of Assets Related to Industrial Portion of Royal Purple® Business

On February 28, 2025, the Company announced that it entered into a definitive agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of Lubrication Engineers, Inc., a portfolio company of Aurora Capital Partners, to sell assets related to the industrial portion of its Royal Purple® business, for $110.0 million, subject to certain customary adjustments. The Company retained the consumer portion of the Royal Purple® business. At the closing of the transaction on March 31, 2025, the Company received cash proceeds of $95.4 million, net of $9.5 million of deferred payments and $5.1 million of transaction related expenses. The Company recorded a $62.2 million gain on the sale of business in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations. The Company used the sale proceeds to reduce its indebtedness.

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

In November 2023, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2023-07, “Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures.” This ASU requires, among other updates, enhanced disclosures about significant segment expenses that are regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker, as well as the aggregate amount of other segment items included in the reported measure of segment profit or loss. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023, and for interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. Early adoption is permitted. The amendments should be applied retrospectively to all prior periods presented in the financial statements. Refer to Note 13 — “Segments and Related Information” for additional information related to our reportable segments, including disclosure of significant segment expenses.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements – Not Yet Adopted

In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-09, “Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures.” This ASU amends existing income tax disclosure guidance, primarily requiring more detailed disclosures for income taxes paid and the effective tax rate reconciliation. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024, may be applied prospectively or retrospectively, and allows for early adoption. The Company is currently evaluating the impact this update will have on its income tax disclosures in the consolidated financial statements.

In November 2024, the FASB issued ASU 2024-03, “Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses.” This ASU requires companies to disclose more detailed information about specified categories of expenses included in certain expense captions presented on the face of the income statement. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2026 and for interim periods beginning after December 15, 2027, and may be adopted on a prospective or retrospective basis. Early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact this ASU will have on our disclosures.