In a move that should offer relief to refiners dealing with rising prices for renewable fuel credits, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will maintain its required biofuel use levels for 2013 but will lower the volume goal for 2014. The 2013 goal requires a total of 16.55 billion gallons of biofuels to be blended into the country’s fuel supply for the year however the EPA extended the deadline for compliance to June 30, 2014. The current target for 2014 is 18.15 billion gallons of biofuel to be blended into supply, but 2014 is also the year that the U.S. is expected to hit the blend wall – when the law requires the use of more ethanol than can be physically blended into the fuel supply at 10% per gallon. New lowered targets for 2014 are expected to be released by the EPA in September.
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