U.S. supermajors ExxonMobil and Chevron have asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to waive the obligations for biofuel blending for their smallest refineries—exemptions that are typically granted to small refiners under financial distress, Reuters reports, quoting sources familiar with the matter. Under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), oil refiners are required to blend growing amounts of renewable fuels into gasoline and diesel. Refiners that don’t have the infrastructure to blend biofuels must purchase tradeable blending credits known as Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs. The EPA has the authority to grant waivers from the renewable fuel standard to refineries whose oil processing capacity is below 75,000 bpd. Those waivers have been traditionally given to refiners in hardship, but recently the U.S. Administration seems to have leaned to Big Oil in the battle with Big Corn that has been pitting lawmakers from the big oil states against those of the Midwest […]