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Text: Let me also remind you that CVR Partners completed a 1 for 10 reverse split of its common units on November 23, 2020.
Yesterday, we reported a first quarter consolidated net loss of $55 million and a loss per share of $0.39.
Unplanned downtime and increased operating costs associated with the winter storm negatively impacted our first quarter results by approximately $41 million.
Our earnings for the quarter were further impacted by a noncash mark-to-market on our 2020 RIN obligation of $98 million.
Our Board of Directors did not approve a dividend for the first quarter of 2021.
However, we recognize the absence of any major transactions, we have more cash on the balance sheet currently that we need to operate the business.
We will continue our discussions with the Board around the best uses of our cash and the appropriate level of cash to return to shareholders in and what form.
For our Petroleum segment, the combined throughput for the first quarter of 2021 was approximately 186,000 barrels per day as compared to 157,000 barrels per day for the first quarter of 2020, which was impacted by the planned turnaround at Coffeyville.
We experienced unplanned downtime at both facilities in February as a result of the winter storm, which reduced total throughput for the quarter by approximately 34,000 barrels per day.
Both plants resumed full operations in March and are currently running at max light crude rates.
Benchmark crack spreads have increased since the beginning of the year, however, elevated RIN prices continue to consume much of that increase in the cracks.
The Group 3 2-1-1 crack averaged $16.33 per barrel in the first quarter as compared to $12.21 for the first quarter of 2020.
On a 2020 RVO basis, RIN prices averaged approximately $5.57 per barrel in the first quarter, a 250% increase from the first quarter of 2020.
The Brent-WTI differential averaged $3.18 in the first quarter compared to $5.04 per barrel in the prior year period.
The Midland Cushing differential was $0.87 per barrel over WTI in the quarter compared to $0.06 per barrel under WTI in the first quarter of 2020.
And the WCS to WTI differential was $11.82 per barrel compared to $17.77 for the same period last year.
Light product yield for the quarter was 100% on crude oil processed and current economics dictate maximizing gasoline.
In total, we gathered approximately 112,000 barrels per day of crude oil during the first quarter of 2021 compared to 136,000 barrels per day for the same period last year.
Gathering volumes for the first quarter were negatively impacted by the severe winter weather in the Midwest in February.
With the Oklahoma pipelines we recently acquired, our gathering volumes are trending higher.
We currently forecast our gathering volumes for the second quarter to be in the 125,000 to 130,000 barrel a day range.
In our Fertilizer segment, we experienced some unplanned downtime at Coffeyville doing an outage of the third-party air separation unit in January.
At East Dubuque, we elected to shut in for several days as a result of the severe winter weather in February.
Ammonia utilization for the first quarter was 87% at Coffeyville and 89% at East Dubuque.
Along with a rally in crop prices this year, fertilizer prices have increased significantly, which should be more evident in the Fertilizer segment's second quarter results.
With the USDA estimating corn planning this year of 91 million acres, the 2020 inventory carryout could be at the lowest level since 2014.
This should set up for continued strength in crop prices, which will be a positive for the fertilizer demand and pricing as well.
Our consolidated net loss of $55 million and loss per diluted share of $0.39 includes a mark-to-market gain of $62 million related to our investment in Delek and favorable inventory valuation impact of $66 million.
The effective tax rate for the first quarter 2021 was a benefit of 43% compared to a benefit of 27% for the prior year period, primarily due to state income tax credits.
We continue to anticipate an income tax refund related to the CARES Act of $35 million or $40 million, which we expect to receive in the second half of 2021.
The Petroleum segment's EBITDA for the first quarter of 2021 was negative $61 million, which included an inventory valuation benefit of $66 million.
This compares to EBITDA of negative $77 million in the first quarter of 2020, which included unfavorable inventory valuation impact of $136 million.
Excluding inventory valuation impacts in both periods, our Petroleum segment EBITDA would have been negative $127 million for the first quarter of 2021 compared to positive $59 million in the prior year period.
The year-over-year EBITDA decline was driven primarily by the elevated RINs prices and our open RIN position, unrealized derivative losses and increased operating expenses associated with winter storm Uri.
In the first quarter of 2021, our Petroleum segment's refining margin, excluding inventory impacts, was negative $0.88 per total throughput barrel compared to $11.06 in the same quarter of 2020.
The increase in crude oil and refined product prices through the quarter generated an inventory valuation benefit of $3.93 per barrel, this compares to a $9.54 per barrel unfavorable impact in the same period last year.
Excluding inventory valuation impact, unrealized derivative gains and losses and the mark-to-market impact of our 2020 RIN obligation, the capture rate for the first quarter of 2021 was 46% compared to 86% in the first quarter of 2020.
In addition, RINs expense reduced our capture rate by 65% in the first quarter of 2021, which includes a 36% impact related to the mark-to-market of our 2020 RIN obligation.
Derivative losses for the first quarter of 2021 totaled $32 million, which includes unrealized losses of $43 million, primarily associated with frac spread derivatives, offset by gains on Canadian Crude Oil.
In the first quarter of 2020, we had total derivative gains of $46 million, which included unrealized gains of $12 million.
RINs expense in the first quarter of 2021 was $178 million or $10.62 per barrel of total throughput compared to $19 million or $1.32 per barrel for the same period last year.
Our first quarter RINs expense was inflated by $98 million from the mark-to-market impact related to our 2020 accrued RFS obligation, which was mark-to-market at an average RIN price of $1.39 at quarter end.
Our accrued RFS obligation at the end of the first quarter continues to approximate our 2019 and 2020 obligations at Wynnewood, for which labors have been applied.
We believe Wynnewood's obligation for 2021 should be exempt under the RFS regulation; for the full year 2021, we forecast a net obligation of approximately of 230 million RINs without considering waivers yet inclusive of the RINs we expect to generate from the renewable diesel production in the second half of the year.
The Petroleum segment's direct operating expenses were $5.89 per barrel in the first quarter of 2021 as compared to $5.87 per barrel in the prior year period.
On an absolute basis, operating expenses increased approximately $15 million compared to the first quarter 2020, primarily due to higher natural gas costs that are currently in dispute and additional repair and maintenance expenditures related to winter storm Uri.
For the first quarter of 2021, the Fertilizer segment reported an operating loss of $14 million, a net loss of $25 million or $2.37 per common unit and EBITDA of $5 million.
This is compared to first quarter 2020 operating losses of $5 million, a net loss of $21 million or $1.83 per common unit and EBITDA of $11 million.
The year-over-year decrease in EBITDA was driven by lower sales volumes of UAN and ammonia and lower UAN sales prices.
During the quarter, CVR Partners repurchased just over 24,000 of its common units for $0.5 million.
The partnership did not declare a distribution for the first quarter of 2021.
Total consolidated capital spending for the first quarter of 2021 was $68 million, which included $10 million from the Petroleum segment, $3 million from the Fertilizer segment and $55 million from the Renewables segment.
Environmental and maintenance capital spending comprised $12 million, including $10 million in the Petroleum segment and $2 million in the Fertilizer segment.
We estimate total consolidated capital spending for 2021 to be approximately $235 million to $250 million, of which approximately $106 million to $114 million is expected to be environmental and maintenance capital and $123 million to $128 million is related to the renewable diesel project at Wynnewood.
Our consolidated capital spending plan excludes planned turnaround spending, which we estimate to be approximately $9 million for the year in preparation for the planned turnaround at Wynnewood in 2022 and Coffeyville in 2023.
Cash provided by operations for the first quarter of 2021 was $96 million.
Despite elevated natural gas and utilities cost, increased capital spending and closing on the Oklahoma pipeline acquisition, we generated free cash flow in the quarter of $61 million.
Working capital was a source of approximately $218 million in the quarter due to an increase in our RINs obligation and an increase in lease pre payable.
Turning to the balance sheet.
At March 31, we ended the quarter with approximately $707 million in cash, an increase of $40 million from the end of 2020.
Our consolidated cash balance includes $53 million in the Fertilizer segment.
As of March 31, excluding CVR Partners, we had approximately $1 billion of liquidity, which was comprised of approximately $655 million of cash, securities available for sale of $235 million and availability under the ABL of approximately $364 million less cash included in the borrowing base of $208 million.
Looking ahead to the second quarter of 2021, for our Petroleum segment, we estimate total throughput to be approximately 200,000 to 220,000 barrels per day.
We expect total direct operating expenses to range between $75 million and $85 million and total capital spending to be between $6 million and $12 million.
For the Fertilizer segment, we estimate our ammonia utilization rate to be greater than 95%.
We expect direct operating expenses to be approximately $35 million to $40 million, excluding inventory impacts and total capital spending to be between $4 million and $7 million.
Capital spending in the Renewables segment is expected to range between $65 million and $70 million.
In summary, the first two months of the quarter were challenging as crack spreads were narrow and the winter storm caused unplanned downtime and elevated operating expenses.
We quickly recovered from the storm-related shutdowns.
And with the increase in the Group 3 cracks, we have observed positive EBITDA trends in March, absent the 2020 mark-to-market impact for RINs.
We continue to believe we are well positioned for the eventual upswing in the refining market.
Looking at current market fundamentals, cracks have increased since the beginning of the year and have largely sustained higher levels, although inflated RIN prices have consumed part of that increase.
Vaccine data is encouraging, and we're seeing positive increases in demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Refinery shutdowns in February and March helped further clean up domestic inventories, however, fleet utilization is increasing.
In the near term, we remain cautiously optimistic based on the market fundamentals we see.
Starting with crude oil, global inventories are at or near 5-year averages and worldwide demand is projected at 96 million barrels per day for 2021, according to OPEC, a year-over-year increase of 6 million barrels per day.
Shale oil production is up slightly in the Permian Basin, but down everywhere else, and DUCs continue to decline.
E&P companies are currently focused on shareholder return and debt reduction and not on ramping up activities to significantly increase production volumes.
And backwardation is firmly in place, supported by declines in inventories and the action taken by the Saudis.
Moving on to refined products.
Inventories are largely normalized in the US, helped in part by the shutdowns after the winter storm.
US gasoline demand was up significantly in March and held through April.
Refining product demand in PADD II is back to 2019 levels, while PADD II gasoline and diesel inventory levels are both below 5-year averages.
Passenger count and TSA checkpoint check-ins are higher, but still down over 40% compared to pre-pandemic levels and the imports of gasoline and diesel are higher while exports of both products are lower than a year ago.
Looking at the current crack spreads and crude differentials.
Gasoline cracks are strong, but diesel cracks are low due to depressed jet fuel demand.
US refining throughput is down over 1 million barrels per day versus the 5-year average, although EIA reported utilization stats are distorted due to permanent refinement closures and reduced operable capacity.
And RINs remain high, driven by government inaction and regulatory uncertainty.
For the CVR refining system, we continue to run our refineries at max rates on a light crude diet.
Our gathering system rates are increasing with the addition of the Oklahoma pipeline system, which provides more neat barrels to our refineries and reduces our purchases of Cushing common.
We are maximizing the production of premium gasoline and the blending of biofuels, and we do not have any turnaround scheduled for 2021.
For the Fertilizer segment, the USDA is projecting 91 million acres of corn planted this year.
At current yield estimates, the inventory carryout for '21 could be the lowest since 2014.
Crude inventories are already very low, which has driven the prices higher.
The recent winter storm cleaned up excess fertilizer inventories in the Mid-Con as many nitrogen fertilizer plants had to shut in.
The spring run has been strong, and NOLA urea price is around 200 -- excuse me, $385 per ton with UAN at nearly $300 per ton.
Our net debt[Phonetic] prices have dramatically improved for nitrogen fertilizers by about 40% compared to the first quarter of 2021 levels.
We are working hard on 45Q tax credits for the Coffeyville facility, which could provide incremental cash for CVR Partners to delever, and we have a planned turnaround at Coffeyville in October.
Construction is under way at our Wynnewood renewable diesel unit, however, severe weather in February and delays in equipment deliveries, we are now projecting the unit to be online by the end of the third quarter.
Costs are also being affected by weather delays and material escalations.
We currently expect total cost of the project to be $135 million to $140 million.
We have made significant progress and have recently signed agreements for feedstock supply and terminalling, and we are in negotiations on product marketing.
Despite the recent increase in feedstock prices, higher prices for diesel and RINs have partially offset the increase in the renewable diesel feedstocks.
In addition, we now believe we'll be able to run the Wynnewood refinery at higher rates post renewable diesel conversion than we previously expected.
As we work toward the completion of Phase 1, we are close to selecting technology for a potential Phase 2, which would involve adding pretreatment capabilities for lower cost and lower CI feedstocks.
We are also starting a feasibility study for Phase 3 of developing a similar renewable diesel conversion project at Coffeyville and we are exploring the opportunities to add biomasses of feedstock to one or both of our refineries to aid in our sustainability efforts.
Looking at the second quarter of 2021, quarter-to-date metrics are as follows: Group 3 2-1-1 cracks have averaged $19.48 per barrel with RINs averaging $6.92 on a 2020 RVO basis.
The Brent-TI spread has averaged $3.62, with the Midland Cushing differential at $0.36 over WTI and the WTL differential at $0.14 per barrel under WTI, Cushing WTI and a WCS differential of $11.29 per barrel under WTI.
Ammonia prices have increased to over $600 a ton, while UAN prices are over $325 per ton.
As of yesterday, Group 3 2-1-1 cracks were $20.26 per barrel; Brent-TI was $3.07 And WCS was $11.90 under WTI.
On a 2020 RVO basis, RINs were approximately $7.83 per barrel.
The Supreme Court heard arguments in our appeal in the Tenth Circuit ruling last week.
We feel our attorney was very effective in expressing the intent of Congress that no small refinery should go bankrupt from the impact of RFS compliance and the small refineries like ours with a high diesel output, remote location, lack of meaningful retail and wholesale infrastructure are entitled to relief at any time.
We expect to hear a ruling over the next few months, after which EPA might finally provide a renewable volume obligation for 2021.
The EPA has also yet to rule on 2019 and 2020 small refinery exemptions.
The lack of action by EPA regarding these issues has likely contributed to the dramatic increase in RIN prices over the past year.
Fortunately, our consolidated RIN obligation should become much less of a burden with the completion of the Wynnewood renewable diesel unit later this year.

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q1 loss per share $0.39.
petroleum segment also recognized a q1 2021 derivative loss of $32 million, or $1.90 per total throughput barrel.
qtrly combined total throughput was approximately 186,000 barrels per day (bpd), compared to approximately 157,000 bpd.

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