Learn the Issues
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To blend gasoline from various components, must we be registered as a refiner?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Yes. Registration is required for any refiner, importer, and oxygenate blender that produces any reformulated gasoline, and any refiner and importer of conventional gasoline. (§§ 80.76(a) and 80.103.) Section 80.65(d)(3) requires each batch of reformulated or conventional gasoline or…
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A blender/importer unloads 200,000 barrels of imported blendstock into a tank at a registered terminal and blends the imported blendstock into reformulated gasoline. After the finished gasoline is certified as RFG, 150,000 barrels of the product is shipped out, and the next shipment of imported blendstock arrives. Can the imported blendstock be unloaded onto the remaining 50,000 barrels of certified RFG and reblended? (This seems to be defined as a prohibited activity if the subsequent blend is "dirtier," even though it meets RFG specifications.)
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The shipped batch of RFG should be reported as 150,000 barrels of RFG. The 50,000 barrels which are left are not considered to be part of the RFG batch for reporting purposes, because only the shipped volume is reported…
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A blender was producing gasoline in leased tankage in 1990. The blender subsequently purchases the tanks and moves them to a different physical location. Do the baseline properties and volumes associated with the leased tanks "move" to the new blending location?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. To the extent that blending operations remain the same, yes, the baseline associated with that operation should be used at the new location. (7/1/94) This question and answer was posted at
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The California enforcement exemption provided in the RFG regulations can be lost as a result of the assessment of civil, criminal or administrative penalty for violation of the federal RFG or anti-dumping provisions or for violation of CARB's Phase II RFG regulation. The effective party may petition EPA for relief for good cause. Good cause may include a showing that the violation was not a substantial violation of the federal or California RFG standards. However, under a literal interpretation of this provision, a California refiner could lose the enforcement exemption over a trivial manner. Can EPA apply narrower criteria, including establishment of willful wrongdoing criteria and the documentation or repeated offenses over a specific period of time before revocation of the exemption can occur? Additionally, clarification is needed on exemption implications of a settlement between a California refiner and CARB on California Phase II RFG enforcement matters. Can a violation of CARB Phase II RFG regulation not resulting in non-compliance with federal RFG be considered insufficient grounds for losing the exemption?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Each violation of CARB's RFG standard will be examined for its federal implications on a case-by-case basis. (8/29/94) This question and answer was posted at
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Can anyone own RINs and participate in the RIN market?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. There is no restriction on who may own RINs. Anyone can own RINs, including private citizens. However, parties who own or intend to own RINs must register with us under 80.1150(c) and recordkeeping, reporting and attest engagement requirements related…
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Can bulk terminals located in covered areas receive conventional gasoline that is intended to be distributed to non-RFG areas?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Distributors, including bulk plants, located in covered areas may receive and distribute conventional gasoline to non-RFG areas, assuming all of the requirements of the regulations are met, including segregation of conventional gasoline from RFG, and the product transfer documentation…
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Can an ethanol or biodiesel plant keep a RIN?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. In general, producers of renewable fuel must assign all RINs that they generate to volumes of renewable fuel and transfer those RINs with the renewable fuel to another party. However, there are some exceptions. First, producers of cellulosic or…
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Can a company which is both a refiner and importer transfer oxygen and benzene credits from its import operations to its refineries?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Yes, through a transfer of credits meeting all conditions of § 80.67(h). (7/1/94) This question and answer was posted at
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Can a company ship, sell, or offer for sale conventional gasoline to a retailer or wholesaler operating on an Indian Reservation in an ozone nonattainment area which has been opted-in by the state? Can a company sell conventional gasoline to a wholesaler who supplies a retailer or wholesaler who is operating on an Indian Reservation in an ozone nonattainment area which has been opted-in by the state?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The Clean Air Act (CAA) specifies the areas that must be subject to the reformulated gasoline (RFG) program. These "covered areas" are: (1) the nine major metropolitan areas with the worst (highest) ozone levels; and (2) any area reclassified…
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Can exports of high olefins, high benzene, and/or nil oxygen gasolines from the U.S. generate credits for the exporter?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. No. Section 80.67(g)(6) provides that oxygen and benzene credits are generated if the actual total for the oxygen standard is greater than the compliance total, or if the actual total for the benzene standard is less than the compliance…
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Can oxygen and benzene credits be transferred from the RFG area where they are created to another RFG area?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Benzene and renewable oxygenate credits may be transferred from the refiner or importer who creates the credits to any other refiner or importer who would use the credits. Oxygen credits may be transferred from the refiner, importer, or oxygenate…
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Can a producer aggregate multiple shipments into a single batch up to a threshold quantity as long as the batch is within one calendar month?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Yes. In the context of generating RINs and specifying the BBBBB code, producers and importers have the option to define a batch as being comprised of several discreet shipments within a calendar month, so long as the total number…
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Can refiners aggregate if one of the refineries is partially owned? If so, how? (e.g. co-owned by oil company and some other, unrelated company)
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. No. Two refineries can only be aggregated if they are wholly owned by the same refiner. If a refinery is owned by more than one party, it may not be aggregated with any other refineries. (7/1/94) This question and…
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Can a refiner blend oxygenate into purchased conventional gasoline and use the oxygenate to meet its conventional gasoline requirements as long as the oxygenate is not being counted by the producer of the gasoline? Can this blending occur at a refiner owned terminal?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Section 80.101(d)(4) provides that any oxygenate that is added to conventional gasoline, or gasoline blending stock as described in § 80.101(d)(3), may be included in the refiner's compliance calculations, "where such gasoline or gasoline blending stock is produced or…
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Can a refiner ship gasoline with an oxygen content higher than 2.9 weight % using ethers? The purpose is to quickly increase the oxygen content in the distribution system.
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. In general, the maximum oxygen content for RFG that is not designated as VOC-controlled is 3.5 weight% oxygen. However, under the terms of the § 211(f) "Sun" waiver, MTBE blends are restricted to 15 volume% (or approximately 2.7 weight%…
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Can refiners linearize the distillation curve between points or must refiners curve fit data on every sample? Is linear interpolation using a table of values considered calculating E200 and E300 "direct from the data"?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Refiners should use the most accurate means available to determine values for E200 and E300. If these parameters can be measured directly, such direct measured values should be used. If E200 and E300 must be converted from distillation data…
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Can refiners reduce the number of significant figures required for emissions values from 4 to 3 (the fourth significant figure is not meaningful in these calculations)?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. No. Section 80.90(g) states that emission values shall be determined to four (4) significant figures. (7/1/94) This question and answer was posted at
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Can you blend normal butane and natural gasoline, whose composition cleaner than RFG, and certify it as RFG?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. A party who produces RFG by combining blendstocks is a refiner under the RFG regulations, and is subject to all RFG standards and requirements. See the answer to Question 7, Section IX.B., of the July 1, 1994 Question and…
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Can a transmix processor recover gasoline from transmix and call it conventional gasoline without meeting the requirements that apply to a conventional gasoline refiner, and mix the conventional gasoline with other conventional gasoline?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. In the answer to question IX-B-16 of the July 1, 1994 Question and Answer Document, EPA described procedures for transmix processors to follow when producing conventional gasoline or RFG through the transmix processing. In the case of conventional gasoline…
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In the case of an RBOB refiner conducting oversight over the RFG produced at a downstream oxygenate blending operation, what standards does EPA intend that the refiner should check through sampling and testing?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Under § 80.69(a) an RBOB refiner is required to calculate the non-oxygen parameter values for the RFG produced from the RBOB using either the oxygen blending assumptions under § 80.69(a)(8), or the actual oxygen blending levels if the refiner…