U.S. refiners urge biofuels program reform

ENERGY

• Oil refinery workers, executives and local politicians gathered near Philadelphia on Monday to urge the White House revamp the nation’s renewable fuels program, arguing the future of their plants are at stake. The U. S. renewable fuel program requires higher levels of ethanol and other biofuels to be blended into the nation’s fuel pool, pitting the oil industry against the powerful farm lobby.

President Donald Trump has promised corn growers he would protect the program, while also signalling that he sympathizes with U.S. refiners who bear its costs.

The speakers told a crowd of about 100 that the tradable credits at the centre of the renewable fuel program have been exploited by banks and trading firms, threatening the viability of merchant refiners like Mon- roe Energy and PBF Energy.

“Big oil companies and Wall Street investment firms are earning windfall profits and putting all this burden on the small, independent refiners,” Jeff Warmann, chief executive of Monroe Energy, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines Inc and operator of 185,000 barrel-per-day refinery outside of Philadelphia.

Warmann said speculators have driven up the price of the credits.