CLARIFICATION NOTE: Platts updates calculated 2019 D3 RIN assessment

Effective September 4, S&P Global Platts has updated the Cellulosic Waiver Credit (CWC) value used to calculate the 2019 D3 cellulosic biofuel RIN assessment to $1.77 from the 2018 CWC of $1.96.

This is in line with Platts methodology, which states that D3 cellulosic biofuels RIN assessments may look at the value of the Cellulosic Waiver Credit and D5 advanced biofuel RIN value in the absence of market activity.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has historically published the value of the next year's CWC in or near December of the current year; however, the underlying data for calculating the CWC is published in early September.

Platts will publish next-year D3 RIN assessments using a value calculated from the same underlying data the EPA uses, starting from the first working day of July, when Platts begins publishing next-year RIN assessments.

Next year D3 RIN assessments over July and August will use projections of the next-year CWC based on available data, while the assessments from early September will begin using a calculated CWC, including all data the EPA will use to calculate the next-year CWC.

The EPA calculates the CWC using the average wholesale price of gasoline from the preceding July-June, as published by the US Energy Information Administration. The agency then subtracts that average price from an inflation-adjusted $3.00, using inflation figures from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The EPA sets the CWC at that calculated number or an inflation adjusted $0.25, whichever is greater.

The EPA's methodology for calculating the CWC is available in the 2018 CWC calculation, available on the agency's website at epa.gov/renewable-fuel-standard-program/ cellulosic-waiver-cr edit-price-calculation-2018-0.

Platts will publish a subscriber note in early September, confirming the value of the CWC used in the next year D3 assessment until the official value is announced by the EPA.

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