Photo Credit: Darren Schulte/NATSO
For more than a decade, the federal government has had a program in place that savvy fuel retailers can take advantage of to sell fuel at a lower price and realize greater margins on sales.
This program, known as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), obligates every fuel refiner and importer to generate a certain volume of renewable fuel annually. These “obligated parties" must attain a particular number of renewable fuel credits, known as “RINs” (which stands for “renewable identification numbers”) to show that they are in compliance with the RFS program. RINs are essentially an artificial commodity that can be bought and sold in an open market...