(a) Early benzene credits. Early benzene credits are credits generated prior to 2011, or prior to 2015 if generated by a small refiner approved under §80.1340.

(1)

(i) Early credits may be generated under §80.1275 by a refiner for any refinery it owns that has an approved benzene baseline under §80.1285, including a refinery of a foreign refiner that is subject to the provisions of §80.1363.

(ii) The refinery specified in paragraph (a)(1)(i) of this section must process crude oil and/or intermediate feedstocks through refinery processing units.

(iii) Early benzene credits shall be calculated separately for each refinery of a refiner.

(iv) A refinery that is approved for early compliance under §80.1334 may not generate early credits for the gasoline subject to the early compliance provisions.

(2)

(i) A refinery that was shut down during the entire 2004-2005 benzene baseline period is not eligible to generate early credits under §80.1275.

(ii) A refinery not in full production, excluding normal refinery downtime, or not showing consistent or regular gasoline production activity during 2004-2005 may be eligible to generate early benzene credits under §80.1275 upon petition to and approval by EPA, pursuant to §80.1285(d).

(3) Importers may not generate early credits.

(b) Standard benzene credits. Standard benzene credits are credits generated after 2010, or after 2014 if generated by a small refiner approved under §80.1340.

(1) Unless otherwise provided for elsewhere in this subpart, standard credits may be generated under §80.1290 as follows:

(i) A refiner may generate standard credits separately for each of its refineries.

(ii) An importer may generate standard credits for all of its imported gasoline.

(2) Oxygenate blenders, butane blenders using the provisions of §80.82, pentane blenders using the provisions of §80.85, and transmix producers may not generate standard credits.

(3) Foreign refiners may not generate standard credits.

[72 FR 8544, Feb. 26, 2007, as amended at 80 FR 9098, Feb. 19, 2015]