You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: Let me also remind you that CVR Partners completed a 1-for-10 reverse split of its common units on November 23, 2020.
Before I get into our results, I wanted to make a few comments about some exciting developments.
While we believe fossil fuels will certainly be necessary for many years to come, we recognize that renewable fuels are important part of the future.
For this reason, we've began exploring utilizing excess hydrogen capacity at our refineries for renewable diesel production nearly two years ago and have invested nearly $150 million since on those initiatives.
We believe we are uniquely positioned given our transportation logistical connection to the farm belt, and we intend to be in the forefront of this green revolution.
We have made progress on several fronts since our last call and are accelerating our efforts with the Board's recent approval of the feed pretreater at Wynnewood at an estimated cost of $60 million.
I'll provide more details later in the call.
Yesterday, we reported third quarter consolidated net income of $106 million and earnings per share of $0.83.
EBITDA for the quarter was $243 million.
Our facilities ran well during the quarter and continue to strengthen prices for refined products and Nitrogen Fertilizer led to both segments once again posting increases in EBITDA year-over-year.
For our Petroleum segment, the combined total throughput for the third quarter of '21 was approximately 211,000 barrels per day as compared to 201,000 barrels per day in the third quarter of 2020, which was impacted by some weather-related power outages.
Both refineries ran well during the quarter and we continue to process WCS at our Coffeyville refinery due to weak WCS prices in Cushing.
Benchmark cracks increased through the quarter despite elevated RIN prices.
The Group 3 2-1-1 crack averaged $20.50 per barrel in the third quarter as compared to $8.34 in the third quarter of '20.
Based on the 2020 RVO levels, RIN prices averaged approximately $7.31 per barrel in the third quarter, an increase of 177% from the third quarter of 2020.
The Brent-TI differential averaged $2.71 per barrel in the third quarter compared to $2.42 in the prior year period.
Light product yield for the quarter was 100% on crude oil processed.
We continue to optimize refinery operations to ensure maximum capture via maximizing production of distillate and higher margin products, LPG recovery and RINs generation.
In total, we gathered approximately 112,000 barrels per day of crude oil during the third quarter of '21 compared to 124,000 barrels per day in the same period last year.
We continue to see some declines in production across our system due to limited drilling activity, although our gathering rates of state of head of overall decline rates across the Anadarko Basin.
Some rigs were added in both Oklahoma and Kansas over the past few months, but drilling activity has been slower to increase than we would have expected.
In the Fertilizer segment, both plants ran well during the quarter with a consolidated ammonia utilization of 94%.
The rally in fertilizer prices that began earlier this year and continued to the third quarter with prices breaking normal seasonal patterns and continue to rise through the summer.
With low fertilizer inventories and continued strong demand for crop inputs, the outlook remains positive for our Fertilizer segment.
For the third quarter of 2021, our consolidated net income was $106 million, earnings per share was $0.83 and EBITDA was $243 million.
Our third quarter results include a positive mark-to-market impact on our estimated outstanding RIN obligation of $115 million, unrealized derivative gains of $22 million and favorable inventory valuation impacts of $8 million.
As a reminder, our estimated outstanding RIN obligation is based on the 2020 RVO levels and excludes the impact of any waivers or exemptions.
Excluding the above mentioned items, adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $99 million.
The Petroleum segment's adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2021 was $43 million compared to breakeven adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2020.
The year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA was driven by higher throughput volumes and increased product cracks offset by elevated RIN prices and realized derivative losses.
In the third quarter of 2021, our Petroleum segment's reported refining margin was $15.03 per barrel.
Excluding favorable inventory impacts of $0.41 per barrel, unrealized derivative gains of $1.17 per barrel, and the mark-to-market impact of our estimated outstanding RIN obligation of $5.94 per barrel, our refining margin would have been approximately $7.51 per barrel.
On this basis, capture rate for the third quarter of 2021 was 37% compared to 55% in the third quarter of 2020.
RINs expense excluding mark-to -market impacts reduced our third quarter capture rate by approximately 26% compared to a 22% reduction in the prior period.
In total, RINs expense in the third quarter of 2021 was a benefit of $16 million or $0.81 per barrel of total throughput, compared to $36 million, or $1.96 per barrel of expense for the same period last year.
Our third quarter RINs expense was reduced by $115 million from the mark-to-market impact on our estimated RFS obligation, which was mark-to-market at an average RIN price of $1.31 at quarter end compared to $1.67 at the end of the second quarter.
Third quarter RINs expense excluding mark-to-market impacts was $99 million compared to $35 million in the prior year period.
Our estimated RFS obligation at the end of the third quarter approximates Wynnewood's obligations for 2019 through the first nine months of 2021 as we continue to believe Wynnewood's obligation should be exempt under the RFS regulation.
For the full year of 2021, we forecast an obligation based on 2020 RVO levels of approximately 270 million RINs, which does not include the impact of any waivers or exemptions.
Derivative losses for the third quarter of 2021 totaled $12 million, which includes unrealized gains of $22 million, primarily associated with crack spread derivatives.
In the third quarter of 2020, we had total derivative gains of $5 million, which included unrealized gains of $1 million.
As a September 30th, we have closed all of our outstanding crack spread derivative positions.
The Petroleum segment's direct operating expenses were $4.52 per barrel in the third quarter of 2021 as compared to $4.17 per barrel in the prior year period.
The increase in direct operating expenses was driven primarily by a combination of higher natural gas costs and higher stock-based compensation due to the increase in share price.
For the third quarter of 2021, the Fertilizer segment reported operating income of $46 million, net income of $35 million or $3.28 per common unit and EBITDA of $64 million.
This is compared to third quarter of 2020 operating losses of $3 million and net loss of $19 million or $1.70 per common unit and EBITDA of $15 million.
There were no adjustments to EBITDA in either period.
The year-over-year increase in EBITDA was primarily driven by higher UAN and ammonia sales prices.
The partnership declared a distribution of $2.93 per common unit for the third quarter of 2021.
As CVR Energy owns approximately 36% of CVR Partners' common units, we will receive a proportionate cash distribution of approximately $11 million.
Total capital spending for the third quarter of 2021 was $38 million, which included $12 million from the Petroleum segment, $7 million from the Fertilizer segment and $19 million on the renewable diesel unit.
Environmental and maintenance capital spending comprised $15 million, including $12 million in the Petroleum segment and $3 million in the Fertilizer segment.
We estimate total consolidated capital spending for 2021 to be approximately $208 million to $223 million, of which approximately $66 million to $73 million is expected to be environmental and maintenance capital.
Our consolidated capital spending plan excludes planned turnaround spending, which we estimate will be approximately $4 million for the year and preparation for the planned turnarounds at Wynnewood in 2022 and Coffeyville in 2023.
Cash provided by operations for the third quarter of 2021 was $139 million and free cash flow was $76 million.
During the quarter, we paid cash taxes of $67 million, which was partially offset by the receipt of a $32 million income tax refund related to the NOL carryback provisions of the CARES Act.
Other material cash uses in the quarter included $31 million for interest, $15 million for the partial redemption of CVR Partners' 2023 senior notes and $11 million for the non-controlling interest portion of the CVR Partners' second quarter distribution.
Turning to the balance sheet.
At September 30th, we ended the quarter with approximately $566 million of cash.
Our consolidated cash balance includes $101 million in the Fertilizer segment.
As a September 30th, excluding CVR Partners, we had approximately $680 million of look liquidity, which was primarily comprised of approximately $469 million of cash and availability under the ABL of approximately $370 million, less cash included in the borrowing base of $160 million.
Looking ahead to the fourth of 2021 for a Petroleum segment, we estimate total throughput to be approximately 210,000 to 230,000 barrels per day.
We expect total direct operating expenses to range between $90 million and $100 million and total capital spending to be between $26 million and $30 million.
For the Fertilizer segment, we estimate our fourth quarter 2021 ammonia utilization rate to be between 90% and 95%.
Direct operating expenses to be approximately $45 million to $50 million, excluding inventory in turn around impacts and total capital spending to be between $9 million and $12 million.
In summary, refinery market fundamentals have steadily improved since summer, and the cracks have responded accordingly.
We also saw some relief for the out-of-control prices for RINs, although prices have risen as the market continues to wait for EPA to act on settling and/or revising RVOs for 2021 and 2022, as well as issuing small refinery exemptions.
Looking at the current market remained cautiously optimistic based on the fundamentals we see.
Starting with crude oil, OPEC is clearly in the driver seat from a crude price standpoint, inventories have dropped in the US and across the world and backwardation is firmly in place around $12 a barrel over the next year.
While we expect to see shale oil production improving at $80 crude, additional Canadian production has been slow to develop despite additional takeaway capacity.
Recently, we've seen the tightening of the Brent-TI spread as Cushing inventories declined due to shale oil production declines in the Bakken, DJ.
Basin and the Anadarko Basin.
We continue to believe the redemption of shale oil production growth will be key to a sustained widening in the Brent-TI differential.
Moving to refined products.
Demand is largely returned to pre-COVID levels, including demand for jet fuel, which has improved significantly over the past month.
Refined product inventories are generally near five-year -- below five-year averages, partially due to some of the downtime on the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Ida.
Imports of gasoline and diesel remain high and gasoline exports are back above pre-COVID levels, although distillate exports remain low.
Looking at crack spreads, distillate cracks are finally coming back and the forward curve is in Contango despite backwardation of crude oil.
The question now is whether the benefits of IMO 2020 will come back into play.
And that ultimately depends on the shipping, which has been depressed.
One area of our business that generally does not get much attention, but is experiencing a significant improvement is our fertilizer business.
Fertilizer market this year is seeing a combination of supply and demand impacts that have had a tremendous effect on pricing.
On the demand side of the equation, low inventories for corn and soybeans have pushed grain prices higher this year and increased demand for crop inputs.
Meanwhile, domestic production of fertilizer has been lower than normal due to plant shutdowns during Winter Storm Uri, heightening turnaround activity in the summer and additional facility shutdowns during Hurricane Ida.
Meanwhile, the energy crunch in Asia and Europe have caused fertilizer facilities to shut-in further reducing available supplies across the globe.
As a result, we saw our third quarter sales price for ammonia and UAN more than doubled from a year ago levels, and the prices have continued to increase through the fall.
At this point, we think customers are not so concerned -- not so much worried about pricing as they are about actually being able to get supply.
The outlook for the nitrogen fertilizer market is very positive through the next year and we are happy to have our 36% ownership in CVR Partners common units.
Turning back to renewables.
As I mentioned earlier, we believe the location of our refineries and fertilizer facilities provide us with unique benefits and that we've made progress on several fronts since our last call.
First, we are ready to complete the final steps of the conversion of the Wynnewood hydrocracker to renewable diesel service.
Given the weakness in soybean oil-based renewable diesel margins over the summer, we elected to keep the unit in traditional petroleum service as refinery margins have been considerably higher.
With the recent increase in crude oil and diesel prices, the HOBO spread has improved and the basis for refined bleached and deodorized soybean oil and corn oil has subsided.
Our current plan is to move the planned turnaround at Wynnewood to the spring of next year, during which we will finish the hydrocracker conversion with completion and start-up of this renewable diesel unit expected in mid-April.
Second, we are progressing the development of our pre-treater unit at Wynnewood that should allow us to run a wider variety of lower carbon-intensity feedstocks that should generate additional low carbon fuel standard credits.
Long lead equipment for this pre-treater unit is on order and it is critical path for the project to be completed.
The Board has approved the project and we are currently estimating completion late in the fourth quarter of 2022 at a capital investment of approximately $60 million.
Third, on the Coffeyville project, Schedule A engineering is in process for the renewable diesel conversion with an expected annual capacity of approximately 150 million gallons of renewable fuel per year with an option of up to 25 million gallons of that amount to be sustainable aviation fuels should regulations support it.
And fourth, our fertilizer business is progressing its efforts toward monetizing 45Q tax credits for carbon capture and sequestration through enhanced oil recovery activities that are already taking place at its Coffeyville facility.
It also continues to explore the production of ammonia certified blue at both of its facilities.
In conjunction with all of this, we are currently evaluating breaking out the renewable business as a separate entity.
This could potentially provide us with more opportunity to access a greater pool of investors and financing or potentially position us to take advantage of changes in law that benefits renewable.
Although, we are still in the early innings of developing our renewable diesel business, we are taking a long-term view and want to prepare for the future as we look to scale up the business.
With the potential production of renewable diesel at both refineries, sustainable aviation production at Coffeyville, carbon capture opportunities and other potentials for blue hydrogen production, we believe we have a fairly long runway for developing an impactful business in the green energy space.
Our goal is to decarbonize our refining business by growing our renewables business while supplying our customers with competitive fuels they need.
Looking at the fourth quarter of 2021, quarter-to-date metrics are as follows: Group 3 2-1-1 cracks have averaged $19.24 with RINs averaging $6.77 on a 2020 RVO basis.
The Brent-TI spread has averaged $2.52 with the Midland Cushing differential at $0.31 over WTI and the WTI differential at $0.19 per barrel over Cushing WTI, and the WCS differential of $13.56 per barrel under WTI.
Forward ammonia prices have increased to over a $1,000 per ton, while UAN prices are over $500 a ton.
As of yesterday, Group 3 2-1-1 cracks were $15.65 per barrel, the Brent-TI was $0.66 per barrel and the WCS was $15.10 under WTI.
On the 2020 RVO basis, RINs were approximately $6.26 per barrel.
As I mentioned earlier, we saw some brief relief in RIN prices in September when rumors circulated about a potential reduction in the 2020 RVO and 2021 RVO that would be set below the original 2020 level.
The net effect of these actions if taken would decouple D6s and D4s RINs and immediately rebuild the RIN bank, which has been severely depleted.
We believe resetting the RVO at more realistic levels that deemphasizes D6 in favor of D4s, which actually goes much further to reducing carbon emissions is an appropriate step to make.
We also continue to believe that small refineries that face disproportionate economic harm in compliant with RFS are entitled to relief through small refinery exemptions.
We have submitted applications for Wynnewood for 2019, 2020 and 2021, and see no reason EPA should not grant those exemptions as they have in the past years.

user
q3 earnings per share $0.83.

assistant