A deal to wipe out refiner Philadelphia Energy Solution’s biofuel credit debt would effectively shrink the 2018 US biofuel mandate by 2%, which would cut renewable fuel demand and weaken Renewable Identification Number prices, according to a consultant for a biofuel group opposed to the settlement. Marc Chupka, a principal at The Brattle Group, said in testimony released Tuesday by Growth Energy that the proposed settlement would allow PES to avoid buying 419 million RINs over the next year, which represents 2.17% of the overall biofuel mandate of 19.29 billion gallons. Ethanol RINs have climbed in the past week on expectations that the Trump administration will not take action to change the Renewable Fuel Standard in response to refiners’ complaints about the cost of compliance. S&P Global Platts assessed D6 ethanol RINs for 2018 compliance at 46.75 cents/RIN Tuesday, down 1.5 cent day on day but up 8.25 cents […]