RIN Traders Shrug at EPA Waivers, Look to Biden's Agenda


   
   WASHINGTON, D.C. (DTN) -- Renewable Identification Numbers, credits that 
indicate compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard, continued higher for a 
fourth consecutive session Wednesday, with the market sending 2020 D4 RINs to 
their highest trade in two weeks even as Trump Administration's Environmental 
Protection Agency late Tuesday approved three pending requests for small 
refinery exemptions from meeting the federal program's blending obligations 
before the Biden administration takes control of the agency.

   The three requests equate to 260 million gallons of additional lost demand, 
a move renewable industry groups said would be devastating for the domestic 
biofuel industry following a harrowing 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In 
decrying the 11th hour rulemaking illegal, the Renewable Fuels Association 
filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit 
to stay the ruling.

   "EPA's decision will inflict substantial, immediate, and irreversible harm" 
on U.S. ethanol producers, according to RFA's emergency motion.

   The emergency motion was enough to neutralize the bearish component of the 
late Tuesday SREs for the RINs market, with traders focusing on the climate 
legislative agenda of the incoming Biden administration that is seen bolstering 
renewable fuels.

   On the session, D4 RINs for 2021 rose 5cts to $1.03, while D4 2020 RINs 
advanced 3cts to $1.05. Feedstock soybean oil surged 2% to 42.54cts gallon, 
further lifting biodiesel prices and associated RIN values.

    

    

   Liubov Georges, 1.646.359.4088, liubov.georges@dtn.com, http://www.dtn.com.




(c) Copyright 2021 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.