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7. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | 6 Months Ended
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Jun. 30, 2013
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
7. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | Sales Commitments – At June 30, 2013, the Company had entered into sales contracts with its major customers to sell certain quantities of ethanol, WDG and syrup. The Company had open ethanol indexed-price contracts for 105,572,000 gallons of ethanol as of June 30, 2013. The Company had open WDG and syrup fixed-price sales contracts valued at $1,041,000 and open indexed-price sales contracts for 7,000 tons of WDG and syrup as of June 30, 2013. These sales contracts will be completed throughout 2013. Purchase Commitments – At June 30, 2013, the Company had fixed-price purchase contracts with its suppliers to purchase $12,749,000 of ethanol and indexed-price contracts to purchase 129,000 gallons of ethanol. These contracts will be satisfied throughout the remainder of 2013. Litigation – General – The Company is subject to various claims and contingencies in the ordinary course of its business, including those related to litigation, business transactions, employee-related matters, and others. When the Company is aware of a claim or potential claim, it assesses the likelihood of any loss or exposure. If it is probable that a loss will result and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated, the Company will record a liability for the loss. If the loss is not probable or the amount of the loss cannot be reasonably estimated, the Company discloses the claim if the likelihood of a potential loss is reasonably possible and the amount involved could be material. While there can be no assurances, the Company does not expect that any of its pending legal proceedings will have a material financial impact on the Company’s operating results. On May 24, 2013, GS CleanTech Corporation (“GS CleanTech”), filed a suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division (Case No.: 2:13-CV-01042-JAM-AC), naming Pacific Ethanol, Inc. as a defendant. The suit alleges infringement of a patent assigned to GS CleanTech by virtue of certain corn oil separation technology in use at one or more of the ethanol production facilities in which the Company has an interest, including Pacific Ethanol Stockton, LLC, located in Stockton, California. The complaint seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions against the Company, prohibiting future infringement on the patent owned by GS CleanTech and damages in an unspecified amount adequate to compensate GS CleanTech for the alleged patent infringement, but in any event no less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the inventions of the patent, plus attorney’s fees. The Company, however, does not itself use any corn oil separation technology and therefore will be asking the court to dismiss it from the suit. Further, although one of the Company’s majority-owned subsidiaries does separate and market corn oil, the Company and its majority-owned subsidiaries strongly disagree that any of the subsidiaries use corn oil separation technology that infringes the patent owned by GS CleanTech. The Company has since answered the complaint and counterclaimed that the patent claims at issue are invalid and that the Company is not infringing.

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