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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.
I'd like to begin today's call with a brief discussion of our accomplishments in 2020, then discuss our operating performance for the quarter as well as for the year.
2020 was a challenging year for United States, our industry and our company.
That the pandemic shut down the country and reduced demand for refined products and were forced to adjust our strategy and adapt to the conditions we were presented.
Despite these challenges of the year, we have a number of accomplishments worth highlighting.
We maintained safe, reliable operations and back office functions during the COVID crisis.
We successfully completed $1 billion notes offering in January of 2020, which have provided us with additional cash and liquidity at attractive rates.
We completed a major planned turnaround at our Coffeyville refinery during the beginning of the COVID crisis and deferred turnarounds at Wynnewood, in both fertilizer plants.
We completed an ERP modernization project on time and on budget.
We realigned our business strategy with a focus toward sustainability, with Board approval -- with the Board-approved renewable diesel project at the Wynnewood.
We planned to reduce refining capacity and retool for renewable diesel production, while also transitioning to a lighter gravity-gathered crudes at our refineries.
While we intend to maintain our current capabilities in refining, we are focusing new investments toward growing our renewable diesel business and reducing our carbon footprint.
We achieved significant reductions in SG&A operating costs, capital expenditures companywide, exceeding our goal of $50 million annual reduction in SG&A and operating expenses.
We announced the acquisition of Blueknight Energy's crude oil pipeline assets in Oklahoma, which closed in early February and expands our crude gathering reach at the wellhead.
We evaluated multiple acquisitions in PADD IV, but maintained our capital discipline and refused to overpay for assets when we felt the bid-ask spread was still too wide.
In our trucking business, we began hauling LPGs to our plants to reduce costs.
We appealed the misguided Tenth Circuit Court ruling to the Supreme Court, which has agreed to review the case.
Earlier today, CVR Partners' CEO, Mark Pytosh announced the following accomplishments for our Fertilizer segment in 2020.
Record ammonia production of 852,000 tons between the two plants, posting a combined utilization of 95% for the year.
Certification of CVR Partners' first ever carbon offset credits as a result of nitric oxide abatement efforts and our long-term air separation contract with Messer was renewed with favorable conditions, including the addition of a new oxygen surge tank, which will further improve reliability of our gas fired Coffeyville.
Yesterday, we reported CVR Energy's full year and fourth quarter results for the full year of 2020.
We reported a net loss of $320 million and a loss of $2.54 per share.
For the fourth quarter, we reported a net loss of $78 million and loss per share of $0.67.
EBITDA for the year was a negative $7 million and for the quarter was a positive $1 million.
Weaker crack spreads, as a result of demand destruction from the pandemic and dramatically higher RIN prices weighed heavy on our results for the full year and the quarter.
The market remains volatile and uncertain, particularly in regard to RIN prices, which currently consume a significant portion of the refining margin available in the market.
As a result, the Board of Directors did not approve a dividend for the fourth quarter of 2020.
On the last few earnings calls, I've discussed our focus on preserving our balance sheet and liquidity position in light of the ongoing pandemic as well as potential acquisition opportunities that we were evaluating.
Although we got far down the path on a number of acquisitions that we viewed as attractive, ultimately the bid-ask spread proved to be too wide.
And at this time, there are no active discussions on these potential transactions.
We've also made it clear that we do not currently have any interest in acquiring Delek.
Although as its largest shareholder, we continue to see the stock as undervalued and have some suggested actions Delek should take to improve its business.
We also notified Delek of our intent to nominate three directors for election to Delek's Board in it's upcoming Annual Meeting.
As we get more visibility into the sustained rebound in the refining market, we continue our discussions with the Board around the appropriate level of cash return to shareholders and in what form.
At current trading levels, there could be more value in buying back our own shares.
For the Petroleum segment, the combined total throughput for the fourth quarter of 2020 was approximately 219,000 barrels per day as compared to 213,000 barrels per day for the fourth quarter of 2019.
Both the facilities ran well during the quarter.
Although the total throughput remained constrained by light naphtha processing capabilities, as narrow crude differentials continue to favor running light -- very light crude slate.
Across the board, benchmark cracks and crude differentials deteriorated significantly from the year-ago.
Group 3 2-1-1 crack spreads averaged $8.44 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2020.
However, RINs consumed 40% of that at approximately $3.50 per barrel.
The Group 3 2-1-1 averaged $16.65 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2019, when RINs were only a $1.15 per barrel.
The Brent TI differential averaged $2.49 per barrel in the fourth quarter compared to $5.55 in the prior year period.
The Midland Cushing differential was $0.37 over WTI in the quarter compared to $0.94 over WTI in the fourth quarter of 2019.
And the WCS to WTI crude differential was a low $11.44 per barrel compared to $18.89 per barrel in the same period last year.
Light product yield for the quarter was 103% on crude oil processed.
Our distillate yield as a percentage of total crude oil throughputs was 44% in the fourth quarter of 2020 consistent with prior year period.
In total, we gathered approximately 117,000 barrels per day during the fourth quarter of 2020 as compared to 148,000 barrels per day for the same period last year.
Our current gathering volumes are approximately 130,000 barrels per day, including the volumes on the pipelines we have recently acquired from Blueknight.
In the Fertilizer segment, we had a strong ammonia utilization at both of our facilities during the quarter, at 99% at Coffeyville and 103% at East Dubuque.
Although fertilizer prices remained soft in the fourth quarter, year-over-year production and sales volumes were higher for both UAN and ammonia.
With rally the in crop prices over the past few months, farmer economics have improved considerably and this is driven higher demand for crop inputs.
As a result, UAN and ammonia prices have increased significantly since the beginning of the year, and the outlook for spring planting currently looks favorable.
Our consolidated fourth quarter net loss of $78 million and loss per diluted share of $0.67 includes a mark-to-market gain of $54 million related to our Delek investment, and favorable inventory valuation impacts of $15 million.
Excluding these impacts, our fourth quarter 2020 loss per diluted share would have been approximately $1.18.
The effective tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2020 was 23% compared to 40% for the prior year period.
As a result of our net loss for the full year 2020 and in accordance with the NOL carry-back provisions of the CARES Act, we currently anticipate an income tax refund of $35 million to $40 million.
The Petroleum segment's EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2020 was a negative $66 million compared to a positive $135 million in the same period in 2019.
The year-over-year EBITDA decline was driven by significantly narrower crack spreads and elevated RINs prices.
Excluding inventory valuation impacts of $15 million, our Petroleum Segment EBITDA would have been a negative $81 million.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, our Petroleum segment's refining margin, excluding inventory valuation impact was $0.56 per total throughput barrel compared to $11.86 in the same period in 2019.
The increase in crude oil and refined product prices through the quarter generated a positive inventory valuation impact of $0.76 per barrel during the fourth quarter of 2020.
This compares to a $0.61 per barrel positive impact during the same period last year.
Excluding inventory valuation impact and unrealized derivative losses, the capture rate for the fourth quarter of 2020 was approximately 20% compared to 79% in the prior year period.
The most significant item impacting our capture rate for the quarter was elevated RINs prices, which reduced margin capture by approximately 71%.
Derivative losses for the fourth quarter of 2020 totaled $15 million, including unrealized losses of $23 million associated with Canadian crude oil and crack spread derivative.
In the fourth quarter of 2019, we had derivative losses of $19 million, which included unrealized losses of $24 million.
RINs expense in the fourth quarter of 2020 was $120 million or $5.97 per barrel of total throughput, compared to $13 million for the same period last year.
Our fourth quarter RINs expense was impacted by $64 million from this mark-to-market impact on our accrued RFS obligation, which was mark-to-market at an average RIN price of $0.89 at year end and other market activities.
The full year 2020 RINs expense was $190 million as compared to $43 million in 2019.
For 2021, we forecast a net obligation from refining operations of approximately $280 million RINs adjusted for our expected internal blending volumes.
We also expect to generate approximately $90 million D4 RINS from renewable diesel in the second half of the year, bringing our net RIN obligation for 2021 to approximately $190 million RINs.
RINs expense for 2021 is expected to be comprised of the cost of this anticipated $190 million RIN obligation, as well as any necessary mark-to-market on any remaining accrued RFS obligation.
Subsequent to year end, we have reduced our 2020 RINs obligation by approximately 8%.
The Petroleum segment's direct operating expenses were $3.99 per barrel of total throughput in the fourth quarter of 2020 as compared to $4.63 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2019.
For the full year 2020, we reduced operating expenses and SG&A costs in the Petroleum segment by approximately $62 million compared to the full year of 2019.
The reduction in full year operating expenses and SG&A costs were a direct result of our cost savings initiative, most of which we believe should be sustainable going forward.
For the fourth quarter of 2020, the Fertilizer segment reported operating loss of $1 million and a net loss of $17 million, or $1.53 per common unit, and EBITDA of $18 million.
This is compared to a fourth quarter 2019 operating loss of $9 million, a net loss of $25 million, or $2.20 per common unit, and EBITDA of $11 million.
The year-over-year EBITDA improvement was primarily due to higher sales volume and lower operating and turnaround expenses offset somewhat by lower prices for UAN and ammonia.
For the full year 2020, we reduced operating expenses and SG&A costs in the Fertilizer segment by over $23 million compared to the full year of 2019.
During the quarter, CVR Partners completed a 1-for-10 reverse split and repurchased nearly 394,000 of its common units for approximately $5 million.
In total, CVR Partners repurchased over 623,000 of its common units for $7 million in 2020, and the Board of Directors of CVR Partners' general partner has approved an additional $10 million unit repurchase authorization.
Total units outstanding at the end of 2020 were 10.7 million, of which CVR Energy owns approximately 36%.
The Partnership did not declare distribution for the fourth quarter of 2020.
The total consolidated capital spending for the full year of 2020 was $121 million, which included $90 million from the Petroleum segment, $16 million from the Fertilizer segment and $12 million for the Renewable Diesel Project at Wynnewood.
Of this total, environmental and maintenance capital spending comprised $92 million, including $77 million in the Petroleum segment and $12 million in the Fertilizer segment.
Actual spending for the year came in at the low end of our expected range as a result of canceling or shifting certain projects into the future.
We estimate the total consolidated capital spending for 2021 to be $215 million to $230 million, of which $115 million to $125 million is expected to be environmental and maintenance capital and $95 million to $100 million is related to the Renewable Diesel Project.
Our consolidated capital spending plan excludes planned turnaround spending, which we estimate will be approximately $11 million for the year in preparation of the planned turnaround at Wynnewood and Coffeyville in 2022.
Cash provided by operations for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $28 million and free cash flow in the quarter was $4 million.
Working capital was a source of approximately $105 million in the quarter due primarily to an increase in our accrued RFS obligation.
For the year, cash from operations was $90 million and free cash flow was a use of $193 million.
In addition, in January 2020, we refinanced and upsized our notes, which generated a net $489 million of cash.
Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the year with approximately $667 million of cash, a slight increase from the prior year.
Our consolidated cash balance includes $31 million in the Fertilizer segment.
As of December 31st, excluding CVR Partners, we had approximately $929 million of liquidity, which was comprised of approximately $637 million of cash, securities available for sale of $173 million, and availability under the ADL of approximately $365 million, less cash included in the borrowing base of $246 million.
Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2021, our Petroleum segment -- for our Petroleum segment, we estimate total throughput to be approximately 185,000 -- excuse me, to 190,000 barrels per day.
Due to the extreme winter weather and natural gas and power curtailments over the past two weeks, our Coffeyville and Wynnewood refineries both ran at reduced rates.
We currently anticipate resuming normal operations at both facilities by the end of the month.
We expect total direct operating expenses for the first quarter to be $95 million to $105 million and total capital spending to range between $65 million and $75 million.
For the Fertilizer segment, despite reducing operating rates that used to be last week due to the extreme weather conditions and natural gas pricing, we estimate our ammonia utilization rate to be greater than 90% for the quarter.
We expect direct operating expenses to be $35 million to $40 million excluding inventory impacts and total capital spending to be between $4 million and $7 million.
In summary, 2020 was a very challenging year, but we were able to navigate through this difficult environment and we believe we are well positioned to capitalize on any eventual upswing in market.
Our mission remains to be a top-tier North American refining and fertilizer company, as measured by safe, reliable operations, superior financial performance and profitable growth.
Looking at 2021, cracks have improved to start the year, although most of the increase is being consumed by out-of-control prices for RINs.
While vaccines are encouraging, so far we've not seen any meaningful increase in demand for refined products.
Domestic inventories are generally balanced, but utilization is still low and starting to increase without a corresponding pickup in demand.
In the near-term, our outlook remains cautiously optimistic based on the market fundamentals that we see.
Starting with crude oil, we've drawn down about 50% of the excess crude oil inventories worldwide.
Shale oil production is still declining, but drilling is starting to increase.
Crude differentials are still narrow, but Brent-TI spread has widened some, and backwardation is firmly in place supported by declines in inventories and the action takes -- taken by the Saudis.
Moving on to refined products, gasoline demand is down approximately 1 million barrels per day and vehicle miles traveled are showing declines.
Jet demand remains low mainly due to little international travel.
Domestic demand is approaching five-year averages.
US inventories are near five-year averages, but still high overall, while inventories and demand in the Magellan system are near normal.
Exports are weak and imports are high.
RINs are ridiculous, approaching $5 per barrel, putting RINs cost above operating costs.
Looking at cracks, cracks have been trending up, but fairly keeping up with RINs.
Diesel cracks are in contango, and the domestic refining utilization is still low at 83%.
We believe cracks will remain relatively weak until demand supports utilization in the 90% plus level.
The question is, what happens to RINs going forward?
Right now, the industry is not generating sufficient free cash flow from refinery operations at these conditions considering sustaining capital requirements and turnaround spending.
Crack spreads and RIN prices are unsustainable at these levels over the long term.
We believe we need to see more rationalization of capacity in order to see sustained moving -- sustained move higher in cracks.
Today, we have seen approximately 5 million barrels per day and announced between permanent shutdowns, temporary idling and potential closures worldwide, with $1.1 million of that in the United States.
While we remain cautiously optimistic on the market in the near- term, we continue on to focus on what we can control to put us in the best position to take advantage of any improved market.
Safe, reliable operations remains a key focus for us as a company.
We'll will continue to work to minimize capital spending on our refining system, other than what we consider critical to safe, reliable operations, and remain compliant with at the book regulations.
We are in the process of integrating our crude oil pipeline assets we acquired from Blueknight and working to maximize our value to our systems by reducing our purchases of Cushing common.
We are executing on our renewable diesel strategy.
Our primary focus now is on getting Phase 1 mechanically complete.
We are currently in construction.
We have everything ordered.
We remain generally on schedule, although it is tight.
As we move through construction, we will focus on completing soybean oil procurement and renewable diesel marketing agreements.
Next, we will begin development of Phase II, which would involve adding pre-treatment.
We are currently evaluating different technologies and considering where we could build the unit and what capacities.
We could potentially have a pre-treatment unit installed by the end of 2022 or sooner if we go through third-party, subject to Board and other approvals.
We also -- we will also begin planning for the potential Phase III at Coffeyville.
We will most likely wait until the first wave of large renewable diesel products are completed to see where the market goes before making a final decision on Phase III.
We continue to believe that renewable diesel become a commodity over time and that there is a clear advantage will be in an early mover.
For the Fertilizer segment, we are more optimistic on the near-term outlook.
Corn prices have rallied over 50% since October, significantly improving farmer economics and driving demand for crop inputs higher.
We believe prices for the nitrogen fertilizers likely bottomed in 2022 and we currently expect demand for UAN and ammonia to be strong in 2021.
The NOLA urea price has continued to increase as LNG and natural gas prices overseas have surged.
As the business has improved in this credit market to strengthen, we intend to focus on potential refinancing of CVR Partners' senior notes at much lower cost.
Looking at the first quarter of 2021, quarter-to-date metrics are as follows: Group 3 2-1 [Phonetic] Group 3 2-1-1 cracks have averaged $12.77 per barrel, with the Brent TI spread of $3.11 per barrel, and the Midland Cushing differential was $1.5 over WTI.
WTL differential has averaged $0.71 per barrel over WTI.
And the WCS differential has averaged $12.60 per barrel under WTI.
Corn and soybean prices have increased significantly and fertilizer prices have responded.
Ammonia prices have increased to over $400 a ton, while UAN prices are $250 dollars per ton.
Renewable diesel margins have averaged $1.31 per gallon, quarter-to-date, based on soybean oil with the carbon intensity of 60, and includes RINs, blenders tax credit, and low carbon fuel standard credit.
As of yesterday, Group 3 2-1-1 cracks were $17.77 per barrel.
Brent TI was $3.67 and WCS was $12.85 under WTI.
Although benchmark cracks have improved, as I mentioned earlier, most of this move was associated with increase in prices.
Quarter-to-date, ethanol RINs have averaged toward $0.94 and biodiesel RINs have averaged $1.5.
In January of 2020, ethanol RINs averaged $0.16 and biodiesel RINs averaged $0.40, a nearly six-fold increase in the price of ethanol RINs in one year should be clear evidence as the RFS program is broken.
EPA's refusal to rule on outstanding small refinery waivers for 2019 and '20, while failing to issue a renewable volume obligation for 2021 despite their legal obligations are significant factors in driving what we've seen over the past year in the RINs market.
We are encouraged that the Supreme Court decided to hear the appeal of the misguided Tenth Circuit ruling, and we do not believe they would have taken the case if they did not have serious questions about the ruling.
The original intent of the RFS regulation was that small refinery waiver could be applied for at any time.
We had an accrued RFS obligation at the end of 2020, which approximates our 2019 and 2020 obligations at Wynnewood, for which waivers have been applied.
Without the mark-to-market effect of this position, our capture rate would have been higher by 38% for the quarter.

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q4 loss per share $0.67.
q4 sales $1.1 billion versus refinitiv ibes estimate of $1.19 billion.

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