Biofuels and feedstocks
Overview
Demand for biofuels is increasing significantly, driven by the need to decarbonise road transport as part of the energy transition. Global biofuels output is expected to rise by more than 3mn b/d in the next five years, and such rapid growth means that new challenges and opportunities are constantly emerging. Keeping on top of the ever-changing biofuels landscape requires accurate pricing, insightful analysis and access to the latest data.
The Argus biofuels solution provides in-depth pricing and market analysis across the entire global renewable fuel supply chain, from original feedstock to finished fuel, with prices and key insights into regional biodiesel, ethanol and feedstock markets.
Latest biofuels news
Browse the latest market moving news on the global biofuels industry.
EPA proposes record US biofuel mandates, foreign limits
EPA proposes record US biofuel mandates, foreign limits
New York, 13 June (Argus) — President Donald Trump's administration today proposed requiring record biofuel blending into the US fuel supply over the next two years, including unexpectedly strong quotas for biomass-based diesel. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal, which still must be finalized, projects that oil refiners will need to blend 5.61bn USG of biomass-based diesel to comply with requirements in 2026 and 5.86bn USG in 2027. That's a 67pc increase in 2026 and a 75pc increase in 2027 from this year's 3.35bn USG requirement, above what most industry groups had sought. The proposal alone is likely to boost biofuel production, which has been down to start the year as biorefineries have struggled to grapple with uncertainty about future blend mandates, the halting rollout of a new clean fuel tax credit, and higher import tariffs. The EPA proposal also would halve Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits generated for foreign biofuels and biofuels produced from foreign feedstocks, a major change that could increase US crop demand and hurt renewable diesel plants that source many of their inputs from abroad. US farm groups have lamented refiners' rising use of Chinese used cooking oil and Brazilian tallow to make renewable diesel, and EPA's proposal if finalized would sharply reduce the incentive to do so. The Renewable Fuel Standard program requires US oil refiners and importers to blend biofuels into the conventional fuel supply or buy credits from those who do. One USG of corn ethanol generates one RIN, but more energy-dense fuels like renewable diesel can earn more. In total, the rule would require 24.02bn RINs to be retired next year and 24.46bn RINs in 2027. That includes a specific 7.12bn RIN mandate for biomass-based diesel in 2026 and 7.5bn in 2027, and an implied mandate for corn ethanol of 15bn RINs, similar to prior years. EPA currently sets biomass-based diesel mandates in physical gallons but is proposing a change to align with how targets for other program categories work. US soybean oil futures surged following the release of the EPA proposal, and RIN credits rallied similarly. Current year D6 credits, typically generated from conventional ethanol production, traded at 92¢/RIN near the opening of the session before peaking at 110¢/RIN and then retreating slightly. Current year biomass-based diesel D4 RINs followed a similar trajectory, trading up to 116¢/RIN and widening the gap with conventional D6 RINs. Proposed targets are less aspirational for the cellulosic biofuel category, where biogas generates most credits. EPA proposes lowering the 2025 mandate to 1.19bn RINs, down from from 1.38bn RINs previously required, with 2026 and 2027 targets proposed at 1.30bn RINs and 1.36bn RINs, respectively. In a separate final rule today, EPA cut the 2024 cellulosic mandate to 1.01bn RINs from 1.09bn previously required, a smaller cut than initially proposed, and made available special "waiver" credits refiners can purchase at a fixed price to comply. Small refinery exemptions The proposal includes little clarity on EPA's future policy around program exemptions, which small refiners can request if they claim blend mandates will cause them disproportionate economic hardship. EPA predicted Friday that exemptions for the 2026 and 2027 compliance years could total anywhere from zero to 18bn USG of gasoline and diesel. EPA plans to continue a policy from past administrations of estimating future exempted volumes when calculating the percentage of biofuels individual refiners must blend, effectively requiring those with obligations to shoulder more of the burden to meet high-level volume targets. EPA in the proposal said it plans to "communicate our policy regarding [exemption] petitions going forward before finalization of this rule". Industry groups expect the agency will try to conclude the rule-making before November. Notably though, the proposal says little about how EPA is weighing a backlog of more than a hundred requests for exemptions stretching back to 2016. Many of these refiners had already submitted RINs to comply and could push for some type of compensation if granted retroactive waivers, making this part of the program especially hard to implement. An industry official briefed on Thursday ahead of the rule's release said Trump administration officials were "coy" about their plans for the backlog. The proposed mandates for 2026-2027 will have to go through the typical public comment process and could be changed as regulators weigh new data on biofuel production and food and fuel prices. Once the program updates are finalized, lawsuits are inevitable. A federal court is still weighing the legality of past mandates, and the Supreme Court is set to rule this month on the proper court venue for litigating small refinery exemption disputes. By Cole Martin and Matthew Cope Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
EPA draft biofuel blend mandate expected Friday: Update
EPA draft biofuel blend mandate expected Friday: Update
Updates with changes throughout New York, 12 June (Argus) — President Donald Trump's administration plans to release draft biofuel blend mandates for 2026 and 2027 on Friday, according to three people familiar with the matter. The draft quotas, in addition to a separate final rule cutting cellulosic biofuel mandates for last year, exited White House interagency review on Wednesday, the last step before major regulations can be released. The Trump administration has meetings with legislative stakeholders on Friday morning ahead of the public release, three people said. Previously scheduled meetings through the end of the month as part of the interagency review process appear to have been cancelled, another signal that the rules' release is imminent. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said it wants to get the frequently delayed Renewable Fuel Standard program back on its statutory timeline, which would require volumes for 2027 to be finalized before November this year. Any proposal will have to go through the typical public comment process and could be changed. EPA said the rules will be posted on its website once they are signed by Lee Zeldin, the agency's administrator. A coalition of biofuel-producing groups and feedstock suppliers, including the American Petroleum Institute, has pushed EPA to set a biomass-based diesel mandate of 5.25bn USG for 2026, hoping that a record-high target will support biorefineries that have struggled this year. Many plants have idled or run less recently, as uncertainty about future blend mandates, the halting rollout of a new clean fuel tax credit, and tariffs that up feedstock costs all hurt margins. US senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Thursday that closed biodiesel plants in his state needed a 5.25bn mandate to reopen. Meanwhile, a coalition of independent and small refiners that have long lamented the costs of the program wrote to EPA this week asking for less-aspirational future mandates, including for the conventional category mostly met by corn ethanol. RIN markets were volatile today, trading higher in the morning before slipping lower on fears the mandates would not meet industry expectations. Current year ethanol D6 RINs traded as high as 99¢/RIN before falling as low as 90¢/RIN. Current year biomass-based diesel D4 RINs ended Thursday at 102.5¢/RIN, equal to their close the prior day. Small refinery exemptions loom Zeldin told a House subcommittee last month the agency wanted "to get caught up as quickly as we can" on a backlog of small refiner requests for program exemptions. Courts took issue with EPA's exemption policy during Trump's first term and again during President Joe Biden's tenure, leaving officials now with dozens of waiver requests covering 10 compliance years still pending. It is unclear whether the rule will provide much clarity on EPA's plans for program waivers, but biofuel groups have worried that widespread exemptions would curb demand for their products. The price of Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits used for program compliance have been volatile this year on rumors about these exemptions, which EPA has called market manipulation. In both the Trump and Biden administrations, EPA estimated future exempted volumes when calculating the percentage of biofuels individual refiners had to blend, effectively requiring those with obligations to shoulder more of the burden to meet high-level volume targets. The agency could continue that approach, but it would be more legally treacherous for the agency to similarly "reallocate" exempted volumes from past years into future standards, lawyers said. EPA by law also has to consult on exemption decisions with the Department of Energy, which a person familiar said was "still going through the scoring process" for assessing some small refinery applications, making quick resolution of the issue unlikely. Unresolved court cases, including a Supreme Court case about the proper venue for small refinery waiver disputes, could also give regulators pause until they know more. Tax credit clarity expected soon Senate committees this week have been releasing their versions of key parts of the major Republican spending bill, and the Senate Finance Committee is expected to do so soon, potentially as early as Friday according to people familiar. The incentive is crucial for biofuel production margins and thus for the viability of EPA mandates too. The version that passed the House last month would extend the "45Z" clean fuel production credit through 2031, bar regulators from considering indirect land use emissions, and restrict eligibility to fuels from North American feedstocks. While various ideas have circulated this year, lobbyists expect the Senate to preserve the general structure of the credit, which throttles benefits based on carbon intensity, rather than reinvent a new subsidy. Still, some Republicans have expressed concern with the House's phaseout of tax credit "transferability", which benefits smaller companies without much tax liability. And major oil refiners with renewable diesel plants reliant on Asian used cooking oil and South American tallow have lobbied for more flexibility around foreign feedstocks. Any changes that up the credit's costs could be controversial too among conservatives worried about the bill's impacts on a mounting federal budget deficit. And the complex tax credit will ultimately need final regulations from the US Department of Treasury clarifying eligibility. At a Senate hearing Thursday, Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said that the Trump administration planned to implement the credit in a way to "not allow for foreign actors to have a back door into the program." By Cole Martin and Matthew Cope Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Ultracargo expande linhas férreas para combustíveis
Ultracargo expande linhas férreas para combustíveis
Sao Paulo, 12 June (Argus) — A empresa de logística Ultracargo finalizou a construção de um desvio ferroviário conectando o terminal de etanol de Paulínia, em São Paulo, com seu terminal em Rondonópolis, em Mato Grosso, para facilitar o transporte de etanol de milho e derivados de petróleo do Centro-Oeste para o Sudeste. A operação, que poderá funcionar com até 80 vagões, terá capacidade para transportar 180.000m³ de combustíveis por viagem e movimentar até 3 milhões de m³/ ano de etanol e 3 milhões de m³/ano de derivados de petróleo. O desvio liga o maior terminal independente de etanol do país com Mato Grosso, o maior produtor de etanol de milho do Brasil, através de 4,4km de linhas ferroviárias. A empresa investiu cerca de R$200 milhões para construir o projeto, que está conectado à malha ferroviária da empresa de logística Rumo, que também finalizou recentemente os trabalhos para aumentar sua capacidade de movimentação até o porto de Santos, em São Paulo. A Ultracargo informou que a utilização de trens em vez de caminhões para longas distâncias também reduzirá a emissão de gases de efeito estufa em 35pc – cerca de 51.000 toneladas de CO2 equivalente. A empresa também planeja entregar outros trechos de linhas ferroviárias e expandir a capacidade de armazenagem no terminal de Rondonópolis, assim como inaugurar o terminal de Palmeirante, em Tocantins, para melhorar o transporte de combustíveis no Arco Norte até o fim de 2025. Esses corredores logísticos ajudarão a diminuir os gargalos, custos e impactos ambientais, disse o diretor da Ultracargo Fulvius Tomelin. Por Maria Albuquerque Envie comentários e solicite mais informações em feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . Todos os direitos reservados.
Ireland keeps double counting for Pome biofuels
Ireland keeps double counting for Pome biofuels
London, 12 June (Argus) — The Irish transport ministry has signed an amended regulation that will continue to allow for biofuels made from palm oil mill effluent (Pome) oil to be counted twice towards domestic mandates, but prevent the granting of additional renewable fuel certificates to biofuels made from the waste feedstock from 1 July. Irish biofuels legislation allows for two renewable fuel certificates to be generated per megajoule for fuels made from feedstocks listed in Annex IX of the EU's Renewable Energy Directive (RED), which includes Pome oil. This is known as double counting. A second piece of legislation, the National Oil Reserves Agency Act 2007 (Additional Certificates for Renewable Transport Fuel) Regulations, allows for extra certificates to be generated for fuels from Annex IX feedstocks on top of double counting. The amended regulation will prevent the additional generation of 0.5 certificates per megajoule of hydrotreated vegetable oil, 0.4 certificates per megajoule of fuel supplied into the aviation sector and 0.4 certificates for megajoule of fuel supplied into the marine sector, if produced from Pome oil. Biofuels produced from other feedstocks listed in Annex IX will still be eligible for this. The National Oil Reserves Agency, which administers Ireland's biofuels mandate, reviewed Pome oil consumption data last year and recommended excluding Pome oil-based fuels from double counting, along with an exclusion from additional certificate generation. It also suggested implementing a Pome oil cap for the mandate, but acknowledged administrative barriers. Ireland was one of four member states that last year approached the European Commission to ask for its support in the analysis of Pome oil-based biofuel usage. The commission responded by saying it would be launching a working group with member states on sustainability and fraud in the lead-up to states transposing the recast RED III. By Simone Burgin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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