Insights

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ADDITIONAL INSIGHT

Policy

The Highest RFS Volume Requirements in Program History. Can the Market Keep Up?

March 31, 2026

On March 27, 2026, EPA finalized the highest Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volume requirements in the program’s 20-year history. (Need an RFS refresher? Read our RFS 101 to catch up quick.)   The Set 2 Final Rule sets the bar at 25.82 billion RINs for 2026 and 25.98 billion for 2027 (increases of more than 15% from the 2023-2025 levels) with biomass-based diesel (BBD)...

Policy

EPA’s summer fuel waiver goes further than it looks, but does it mean an E15 boom?

March 31, 2026

On March 25, 2026, EPA issued a nationwide emergency fuel waiver that goes meaningfully further than the routine annual E15 RVP waivers of recent summers. Rather than simply allowing E15 to be sold alongside E10 during the summer volatility control period, this action effectively eliminates the country’s patchwork of boutique summer fuel formulations, creating a single national gasoline pool at...

Policy

The Long and Winding Road to E15: Is It Finally Nearing Its Breakthrough?

March 19, 2026

For nearly half a century, ethanol has been woven into the fabric of the U.S. gasoline supply. The story began in the 1970s with the introduction of E10 – gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol – after a Clean Air Act (CAA) 211(f) waiver[1] took effect. By the early 2000s, refiners had embraced E10 wholeheartedly,...

Economics

Iran War: What It Means for Fuel Markets and Why It’s Even More Complicated Than You Think

March 11, 2026

If you’ve been following the news this past week, you know the basics: the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28th, Iran hit back across the Gulf, and energy markets went haywire. But if you’re trying to figure out what this actually means for fuel prices – at the pump, for your...

Economics

The Gasoline Gap: How California’s Biggest Emissions Source Is Falling Behind

March 11, 2026

This is the second in a series of articles examining California’s progress toward the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets set by the 2022 Scoping Plan. The first article – Mind the Gap: Transportation Emissions vs. California’s 2022 Scoping Plan Pathway – provided background and an overview of how the transportation sector has performed in reducing GHG emissions relative to the 2022 Scoping...

Refinery Optimization

UNLOCK – Improving Downstream Profitability with Low Capex, High Impact Initiatives 

March 10, 2026

Downstream operators are continuously being asked to deliver more with the assets they already have. Yet with volatile markets, evolving crude slates, logistical constraints, and limited capital budgets, most downstream businesses still carry significant untapped margin potential –value obscured by organizational silos, inherited operating assumptions, and KPIs that no longer reflect today’s environment.   Stillwater’s UNLOCK is designed to surface this hidden value....
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