Platts updates calculated 2020 D3 RIN assessment

Effective September 4, 2019, S&P Global Platts has updated the Cellulosic Waiver Credit (CWC) value used to calculate the 2020 D3 cellulosic biofuel RIN assessment to $1.80.

This is in line with Platts methodology, which states that D3 cellulosic biofuels RIN assessments may take into account 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.

The EPA calculates the CWC using the average wholesale price of gasoline from the preceding July 1 through June 30 period, 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 25 cents, whichever is greater.

The EPA's methodology for calculating the CWC is available in the 2019 CWC calculation, available on the agency's website at www.epa.gov

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