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Commitments and Contingencies
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
In the ordinary course of business, we are a party to various lawsuits and other contingent matters. We establish accruals for specific legal matters when we determine that the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome is probable and the loss is reasonably estimable. It is possible that an unfavorable outcome of one or more of these lawsuits or other contingencies could have a material impact on our financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.
Tax and Related Matters
We are also party to various other legal proceedings, claims, and regulatory, tax or government audits, inquiries and investigations that arise in the ordinary course of business. From time to time, Par Hawaii Refining, LLC has appealed various tax assessments related to its land, buildings, and fuel storage tanks, and is currently appealing the City of Honolulu’s property tax assessment for tax year 2023. During the first quarter of 2022, we received a tax assessment in the amount of $1.4 million from the Washington Department of Revenue related to its audit of certain taxes allegedly payable on certain sales of raw vacuum gas oil between 2014 and 2016. We believe the Department of Revenue’s interpretation is in conflict with its prior guidance and we appealed in November 2022. By opinion dated September 22, 2021, the Hawaii Attorney General reversed a prior 1964 opinion exempting various business transactions conducted in Hawaii foreign trade zone from certain state taxes. We and other similarly situated state taxpayers who had previously claimed such exemptions, certain of which we are contractually obligated to indemnify, are currently being audited for such prior tax periods. Similarly, on September 30, 2021, we received notice of a complaint filed on May 17, 2021, on camera and under seal in the first circuit court of the state of Hawaii alleging that Par Hawaii Refining, LLC, Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. and certain unnamed defendants made false claims and statements in connection with various state tax returns related to our business conducted within the Hawaii foreign trade zone, and seeking unspecified damages, penalties, interest and injunctive relief. We dispute the allegations in the complaint and intend to vigorously defend ourselves in such proceeding. We believe the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome in these matters to be neither probable nor reasonably estimable.
Environmental Matters
Like other petroleum refiners, our operations are subject to extensive and periodically-changing federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations governing air emissions, wastewater discharges, and solid and hazardous waste management activities. Many of these regulations are becoming increasingly stringent and the cost of compliance can be expected to increase over time.
Periodically, we receive communications from various federal, state, and local governmental authorities asserting violations of environmental laws and/or regulations. These governmental entities may also propose or assess fines or require corrective actions for these asserted violations. Except as disclosed below, we do not anticipate that any such matters currently asserted will have a material impact on our financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.
Hawaii Consent Decree
On July 18, 2016, PHR and subsidiaries of Tesoro Corporation (“Tesoro”) entered into a consent decree with the EPA, the U.S. Department of Justice and other state governmental authorities concerning alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act related to the ownership and operation of multiple facilities owned or formerly owned by Tesoro and its affiliates (“Consent Decree”), including our refinery in Kapolei, Hawaii, that we acquired from Tesoro in 2013. On September 29, 2023, we received a letter from EPA related to the alleged violation of certain air emissions limits, controls, monitoring, and repair
requirements under the Consent Decree. We are unable to predict the cost to resolve these alleged violations, but resolution will likely involve financial penalties or impose capital expenditure requirements that could be material.
Wyoming Refinery
Our Wyoming refinery is subject to a number of consent decrees, orders, and settlement agreements involving the EPA and/or the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, some of which date back to the late 1970s and several of which remain in effect, requiring further actions at the Wyoming refinery. The largest cost component arising from these various decrees relates to the investigation, monitoring, and remediation of soil, groundwater, surface water and sediment contamination associated with the facility’s historic operations. Investigative work by Hermes Consolidated LLC, and its wholly owned subsidiary, Wyoming Pipeline Company (collectively, “WRC” or “Wyoming Refining”) and negotiations with the relevant agencies as to remedial approaches remain ongoing on a number of aspects of the contamination, meaning that investigation, monitoring, and remediation costs are not reasonably estimable for some elements of these efforts. As of December 31, 2023, we have accrued $14.0 million for the well-understood components of these efforts based on current information, approximately one-third of which we expect to incur in the next five years and the remainder to be incurred over approximately 30 years.
Additionally, we believe the Wyoming refinery will need to modify or close a series of wastewater impoundments in the next several years and replace those impoundments with a new wastewater treatment system. Based on current information, reasonable estimates we have received suggest costs of approximately $11.6 million to design and construct a new wastewater treatment system.
Finally, among the various historic consent decrees, orders, and settlement agreements into which Wyoming Refining has entered, there are several penalty orders associated with exceedances of permitted limits by the Wyoming refinery’s wastewater discharges. Although the frequency of these exceedances has declined over time, Wyoming Refining may become subject to new penalty enforcement action in the next several years, which could involve penalties in excess of $300,000.
Washington Climate Commitment Act and Clean Fuel Standard
In 2021, the Washington legislature passed the Climate Commitment Act (“Washington CCA”), which established a cap and invest program designed to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Rules implementing the Washington CCA by the Washington Department of Ecology set a cap on greenhouse gas emissions, provide mechanisms for the sale and tracking of tradable emissions allowances, and establish additional compliance and accountability measures. The Washington CCA became effective in January 2023 and the first auction for emissions allowances took place in February 2023. Additionally, a low carbon fuel standard (the “Clean Fuel Standard”) that limits carbon in transportation fuels and enables certain producers to buy or sell credits was also signed into law and became effective in 2023. We will be required to purchase compliance credits or allowances if we are unable to reduce emissions at our Tacoma refinery or reduce the amount of carbon in the transportation fuels we sell in Washington, which could have a material impact on our financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows. During the third quarter of 2023, we received and responded to a civil investigative demand for information related to our compliance with the Washington CCA.
Regulation of Greenhouse Gases
Under the Energy Independence and Security Act (the “EISA”), the Renewable Fuel Standard (the “RFS”) requires an increasing amount of renewable fuel to be blended into the nation’s transportation fuel supply. Over time, higher annual RFS requirements have the potential to reduce demand for our refined transportation fuel products. In the near term, the RFS will be satisfied primarily with fuel ethanol blended into gasoline or by purchasing renewable credits, referred to as RINs, to maintain compliance. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we settled all of our 2020, 2021, and 2022 RVO liabilities, which resulted in a gain of $102.1 million associated with the difference between the carrying value of the RINs retired and the market value of the RVO settled. This gain is included in Cost of revenues (excluding depreciation) on our consolidated statements of operations.
The RFS may present production and logistics challenges for both the renewable fuels and petroleum refining and marketing industries in that we may have to enter into arrangements with other parties or purchase D3 waivers from the EPA to meet our obligations to use advanced biofuels, including biomass-based diesel and cellulosic biofuel, with potentially uncertain supplies of these new fuels.
There will be compliance costs and uncertainties regarding how we will comply with the various requirements contained in the EISA, RFS, and other fuel-related regulations. We may experience a decrease in demand for refined petroleum products due to an increase in combined fleet mileage or due to refined petroleum products being replaced by renewable fuels.
Environmental Agreement
On September 25, 2013, Par Petroleum, LLC (formerly Hawaii Pacific Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Par created for purposes of the acquisition of PHR), Tesoro Corporation (“Tesoro”), and PHR entered into an Environmental Agreement (“Environmental Agreement”) that allocated responsibility for known and contingent environmental liabilities related to the acquisition of PHR, including a consent decree.
Indemnification
In addition to its obligation to reimburse us for capital expenditures incurred pursuant to a consent decree, Tesoro agreed to indemnify us for claims and losses arising out of related breaches of Tesoro’s representations, warranties, and covenants in the Environmental Agreement, certain defined “corrective actions” relating to pre-existing environmental conditions, third-party claims arising under environmental laws for personal injury or property damage arising out of or relating to releases of hazardous materials that occurred prior to the date of the closing of the PHR acquisition, any fine, penalty, or other cost assessed by a governmental authority in connection with violations of environmental laws by PHR prior to the date of the closing of the PHR acquisition, certain groundwater remediation work, fines, or penalties imposed on PHR by a consent decree related to acts or omissions of Tesoro prior to the date of the closing of the PHR acquisition, and claims and losses related to the Pearl City Superfund Site.
Tesoro’s indemnification obligations are subject to certain limitations as set forth in the Environmental Agreement. These limitations include a deductible of $1 million and a cap of $15 million for certain of Tesoro’s indemnification obligations related to certain pre-existing conditions, as well as certain restrictions regarding the time limits for submitting notice and supporting documentation for remediation actions.
Major Customers
We sell a variety of refined products to a diverse customer base. For each of the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, we had one customer in our refining segment that accounted for 13%, 17%, and, 13%, respectively, of our consolidated revenue. No other customer accounted for more than 10% of our consolidated revenues during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021.