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Commitments and Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2024
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies
(13) Commitments and Contingencies

Except as described below, there have been no material changes in the Company’s commitments and contingencies from those disclosed in the 2023 Form 10-K. In the ordinary course of business, the Company may become party to lawsuits, administrative proceedings, and governmental investigations, including environmental, regulatory, and other matters. The outcome of these matters cannot always be predicted accurately, but the Company accrues liabilities for these matters if the Company has determined that it is probable a loss has been incurred and the loss can be reasonably estimated. While it is not possible to predict the outcome of such proceedings, if one or more of them were decided against us, the Company believes there would be no material impact to its consolidated financial statements.

Crude Oil Supply Agreement

The Petroleum Segment has a crude oil supply agreement with Gunvor USA LLC (“Gunvor”), which commenced on January 1, 2024 (as amended, the “Gunvor Crude Oil Supply Agreement”), pursuant to which Gunvor supplies the Petroleum Segment with certain crude oil and intermediation logistics helping to reduce the amount of inventory held at certain locations and mitigate crude oil pricing risk. The Gunvor Crude Oil Supply Agreement replaced a similar agreement with a different supplier that expired on December 31, 2023. Volumes contracted under these agreements, as a percentage of the total crude oil purchases (in barrels), were approximately 21% and 31% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023. The Gunvor Crude Oil Supply Agreement, which currently extends through January 31, 2026, is subject to automatic one-year renewals following the expiration of the initial term in the absence of either party providing 180 days’ notice of termination.

As part of the transition of the crude oil supply agreement from Vitol to Gunvor, on December 31, 2023, the Company purchased the final inventory remaining under the crude oil supply agreement with Vitol and sold it to Gunvor on January 1, 2024. The inventory purchased from Vitol was included within Inventories on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2023.

45Q Transaction

Under the agreements entered into in connection with the 45Q Transaction, the Company’s indirect subsidiary CRNF is obligated to meet certain minimum quantities of carbon oxide supply each year during the term of the agreement and is subject to fees of up to $15 million per year (reduced pro rata for partial years) to the unaffiliated third-party investors, subject to an overall $45 million cap, if these minimum quantities are not delivered. CVR Partners issued a guarantee to the unaffiliated third-party investors and certain affiliates involved in the 45Q Transaction of the payment and performance obligations of CRNF and CVRP JV, which include the aforementioned fees. This guarantee has no impacts on the accounting records of CVR Partners unless the parties fail to comply with the terms of the 45Q Transaction contracts.

Renewable Fuel Standard

Coffeyville Resources Refining & Marketing, LLC (“CRRM”) and Wynnewood Refining Company, LLC (“WRC”, and together with CRRM, the “obligated-party subsidiaries”) are subject to the RFS implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”), which requires obligated parties to either blend renewable fuels into their transportation fuels or purchase renewable fuel credits, known as RINs, in lieu of blending. The Petroleum Segment’s obligated-party subsidiaries are not able to blend the majority of their transportation fuels with renewable fuels and, unless their RFS obligations are waived or exempted, must either purchase RINs or obtain waiver credits for cellulosic biofuels in order to comply with the RFS. Additionally, the Petroleum Segment’s obligated-party subsidiaries purchase RINs generated from our renewable diesel operations, whose operating results are not included in either of our reportable segments, to partially satisfy their RFS obligations.

For the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company’s obligated-party subsidiaries recognized a benefit of $51 million and $11 million, respectively, for their compliance with the RFS (based on the 2020 through 2024 renewable volume obligation (“RVO”), for the respective periods, excluding the impacts of any exemptions or waivers to which the Company’s obligated-party subsidiaries may be entitled). The recognized amounts are included within Cost of materials and other in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and represent costs to comply with the RFS obligation through purchasing of RINs not otherwise reduced by blending of ethanol, biodiesel, or renewable diesel. At each reporting period, to the extent RINs purchased and generated through blending are less than the RFS obligation (excluding the impact of exemptions or waivers to which the Company may be entitled), the remaining position is valued using RIN market prices at period end for each specific or closest vintage year. As of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company’s obligated-party subsidiaries’ RFS positions were approximately $294 million and $329 million, respectively, and are recorded in Other current liabilities in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Litigation

Call Option Coverage Case – In April 2024, in the lawsuit (the “Delaware Coverage Case”) filed by the Company and certain of its affiliates (the “Call Defendants”) against the Company’s primary and excess insurers (the “Insurers”) alleging breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing against the Insurers relating to their denial of coverage of the Call Defendants’ defense expenses and indemnity, as well as other conduct of the Insurers relating to the Company’s December 2022 settlement of the consolidated lawsuits (collectively, the “Call Option Lawsuits”) filed by purported former unitholders of CVR Refining, LP (“CVR Refining”) on behalf of themselves and an alleged class of similarly situated unitholders against the Call Defendants relating to the Company’s exercise of the call option under the CVR Refining Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership assigned to it by CVR Refining’s general partner including the August 2022 Stipulation, Compromise and Release (the “Settlement”), the Superior Court of the State of Delaware (the “Superior Court”) issued an order compelling the parties to engage in briefing relating to, among other matters, the summary judgment granted in favor of the Insurers by the 434th Judicial District Court of Fort Bend County, Texas in the Insurer’s separate lawsuit (the “Texas Coverage Case”) against the Call Defendants seeking determination that the Insurers owe no indemnity coverage under policies with coverage limits of $50 million for the Settlement, which summary judgment the Call Defendants have appealed. While the Delaware Coverage Case and the Texas Coverage Case remain pending, the Company
does not expect the outcome of these lawsuits to have a material adverse impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

RFS Disputes – Regarding WRC’s petitions for small refinery exemptions (“SREs”) for the 2017 to 2021 compliance periods which were denied by the EPA in April and June 2022 based on a new standard for evaluating SREs announced by the EPA in December 2021 and retroactively applied (collectively, the “2022 Denials”), the EPA has failed to act after the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (the “Fifth Circuit”) vacated the 2022 Denials and remanded the SRE petitions of WRC and certain other small refineries back to the EPA, finding that the 2022 Denials were impermissibly retroactive and that the EPA’s interpretation of the SRE provisions of the RFS was contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious as applied to the Fifth Circuit petitioners’ SRE petitions. As the mandate in the Fifth Circuit was issued in January 2024, WRC considers the EPA to have again violated the RFS by failing to rule on those petitions within 90 days following issuance of the mandate and expects to file suit against the EPA for this violation. In WRC’s lawsuit against the EPA for the damages it sustained as a result of the EPA’s late grant of its SRE petition for the 2018 compliance period (which SRE petition was later denied by the EPA in the 2022 Denials), the United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the “DC Circuit”) held oral argument in April 2024, though no ruling has yet been issued.

Regarding WRC’s SRE petition for the 2022 compliance period which was denied by the EPA in July 2023 largely on the same grounds as the 2022 Denials, the Fifth Circuit stayed WRC’s obligations under the RFS for 2022 and held its lawsuit against the EPA in abeyance pending the outcome of the lawsuit filed by certain other small refineries against the EPA in the DC Circuit related to the 2022 Denials. The DC Circuit held oral argument in April 2024, though no ruling has yet been issued.

Regarding WRC’s SRE petition for the 2023 compliance period, the EPA has failed to rule on its SRE petition within 90 days as required by the RFS. WRC filed suit against the EPA relating to such failure, which suit was withdrawn in April 2024 following the filing by the EPA of a declaration that the EPA did not intend to pursue claims against WRC relating to the 2023 compliance period pending outcome of the various pending SRE litigation. If the EPA fails to rule on WRC’s 2023 SRE petition, WRC expects to file suit against the EPA for this failure.

WRC’s challenges to the EPA’s Final Rules issued in June 2022 and June 2023 establishing the 2020 to 2022 RVOs and 2023 to 2025 RVOs, respectively, also remain pending.

The Company cannot yet determine at this time the outcomes of these matters. While we intend to prosecute these actions vigorously, if these matters are ultimately concluded in a manner adverse to the Company, they could have a material effect on the Company’s financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

Environmental, Health, and Safety (“EHS”) Matters

Clean Air Act Matter - CRRM and certain of its affiliates settled claims brought in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas (“D. Kan”) by the United States, on behalf of the EPA, and the State of Kansas, on behalf of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (“KDHE”) seeking both statutory and stipulated penalties primarily relating to the Coffeyville Refinery’s flares, heaters, and related matters. The terms of the settlement are set forth in a Consent Decree (“CD”) that was entered by the D. Kan on January 10, 2024. The EPA and KDHE sought stipulated penalties under a 2012 Consent Decree (the “Stipulated Claims”), which amount CRRM previously deposited into a commercial escrow account which were legally restricted for use and included in Other current assets on our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets; those escrowed funds were released in February 2024 and the settlement was paid. The settlement did not and is not expected in the future to have a material adverse impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.