Sulfur Averaging, Banking, and Trading (ABT) Credit Data
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Overview of Fuels ABT Program
EPA created two separate ABT programs specific to sulfur and benzene under the federal gasoline regulations. Gasoline refiners and importers may generate compliance credits for use or trading based on requirements and standards described in 40 CFR part 80. This allows refiners to meet requirements by producing gasoline that meets the specifications or by trading credits for use with other refiners, so that collectively the sulfur and benzene standards are satisfied.
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Sulfur ABT Credit Status by Averaging Year
The refinery or importer annual average gasoline sulfur standard is the maximum average sulfur level allowed for gasoline produced at a refinery or imported by an importer during each calendar year starting January 1, 2005. Refiners and importers may meet the standard by using banked credits from other refineries or importers. Refineries or importers who are above the standard threshold and fail to use enough credits for compliance create a sulfur credit deficit. A credit deficit can be carried forward up to one compliance period.
The gasoline sulfur standard for refiners and importers, excluding gasoline produced by small refiners subject to the standards at §80.240, and gasoline designated as GPA gasoline under §80.219(a), is 30 parts per million (ppm) through 2016. EPA finalized a rulemaking in 2014 (commonly referred to as "Tier 3") that updated the average levels of sulfur from 30 ppm to 10 ppm. This updated standard first applies to refiners and importers starting with the 2017 compliance period.
The table below shows the volume weighted averages (VWA) and total gasoline volumes before any sulfur credits are applied for refined and imported gasoline that was above, below or equal to the sulfur standard threshold by compliance year. The total gasoline volumes and VWA are derived from refinery and importer reported values on the Sulfur Annual Compliance report (GSF0301).
You can download the selected dataset to an Excel file by right-clicking the mouse inside a table and selecting the "Export" option.
Gasoline Sulfur Credits and Retired Generated
Generation
Gasoline refineries and importers may generate sulfur credits when their actual annual average sulfur level is less than 30 ppm through 2016. The calculation below describes how sulfur credits are generated. Sulfur credit units are in ppm-gallons. The Net Credits Generated column shows the total number of credits generated minus the number of invalid credits generated. Credit Generation Error Corrections are defined as credits that have been retired in EMTS using any of the two retirement reason codes of 'Invalid Credit' or 'Volume Error Correction'.
Retirements
Gasoline refineries and importers may retire sulfur credits when their actual annual average sulfur level is greater than 30 ppm through 2016. Obtaining and retiring credits for compliance allows companies to meet the annual sulfur standard. Typically, refiners and importers can retire credits for compliance created within the last five averaging periods.
The tables below provide summary totals of gasoline Sulfur credits generated and retired in EPA’s Moderated Transaction System (EMTS):
- Table 2: Gasoline Sulfur Credits generated in EMTS
- Table 3: Gasoline Transitional Sulfur Credits generated in EMTS by Small Volume Refineries and Small Refiners
- Table 4: Gasoline Sulfur Credits retired for compliance in EMTS by Domestic Refineries
- Table 5: Gasoline Sulfur Credits retired for compliance in EMTS by Importers
- Table 6. Total retired gasoline sulfur credits for averaging periods 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
- Table 7. Total retired gasoline transitional sulfur credits for averaging periods 2017 and 2018.