CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI) today announced third quarter 2016 net income of $5.4 million, or 6 cents per diluted share, on net sales of $1,240.3 million, compared to net income of $57.9 million, or 67 cents per diluted share, on net sales of $1,408.8 million for the 2015 third quarter. Third quarter 2016 adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, was $58.2 million, compared to third quarter 2015 adjusted EBITDA of $153.8 million.

For the first nine months of 2016, net income was $17.6 million, or 20 cents per diluted share, on net sales of $3,429.0 million, compared to net income of $214.6 million, or $2.47 per diluted share, on net sales of $4,421.9 million for the same period a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA for the first nine months of 2016 was $158.8 million, compared to adjusted EBITDA of $463.2 million for the first nine months of 2015.

“CVR Partners posted high on-stream rates at its Coffeyville, Kansas, and East Dubuque, Illinois, fertilizer plants during the third quarter,” said Jack Lipinski, CVR Energy’s chief executive officer. “CVR Refining’s Coffeyville refinery also ran well during the quarter, and the company executed a definitive agreement with Velocity Midstream Partners for the construction of a crude oil pipeline that will directly link the fairway of the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP) to its Wynnewood, Oklahoma, refinery.

“As I mentioned in the CVR Refining third quarter news release, the exorbitant costs of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) under the broken Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program continue to negatively impact our overall financial results,” Lipinski said. “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must change the point of obligation and pull back on its proposed 2017 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) before escalating RIN prices cause irreparable harm to merchant refiners. The EPA is now in the process of literally destroying small and medium-sized merchant refineries like ours that do not control the blending and retail sale of their fuel.

“It is absurd that the EPA continues to punish and ruin merchant refineries that have done nothing wrong when the EPA itself admits that the RFS program is not working,” he continued. “The primary beneficiaries of the broken RFS program are ‘Big Oil,’ large retail chains and the Wall Street speculators that are manipulating the RINs’ market for illicit gain, causing the compliance costs of merchant refineries to skyrocket – all with the EPA’s imprimatur. Even the EPA’s own former Chief of Criminal Investigations, Doug Parker, recently stated publicly that ‘structural vulnerabilities in the regulations, limited agency oversight, and a lack of market transparency within the RFS made this program a ripe target for massive fraud and illicit gain.’

“The EPA now has the opportunity to avert another 2008-style financial crisis, but only if it takes resolute and immediate action,” Lipinski added. “If regulatory oversight of the ‘wild west’ RINs’ market, as well as an investigation of the criminal activities identified by Doug Parker, are not brought to bear, a number of small and medium-sized refineries will be driven into bankruptcy, which will do for ‘Big Oil’ what the Federal Trade Commission would never allow them to do for themselves – destroy all of their competitors in the refining business. This will allow them to strengthen oligopolies that will control the supply of gasoline, giving them the ability to cause prices to spike and squeeze consumers at will, which will start a domino effect, crippling the transportation industry and causing many businesses to suffer and even fail.

“We therefore implore the EPA, before it is too late and its rule becomes final on Nov. 30, to take decisive action – by drastically lowering the proposed RVOs for 2017,” he said. “It is important to note that the volumes of ethanol and biofuels that the EPA has indicated it will require refineries to blend in 2017 are mathematically impossible to achieve. Therefore, the demands being made on merchant refineries will be impossible for them to achieve. This has become an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ situation – but it is not funny because of the dire consequences that it will soon manifest.

“We invite everyone to visit our new online resource, www.FixTheRFS.org, to learn more about these important issues, our position and how the EPA can fix this broken program,” Lipinski concluded.

CVR Energy also announced a third quarter 2016 cash dividend of 50 cents per share. The dividend, as declared by CVR Energy’s Board of Directors, will be paid on Nov. 14, 2016, to stockholders of record on Nov. 7, 2016.

CVR Energy’s third quarter cash dividend brings the cumulative cash dividends paid or declared for the first nine months of 2016 to $1.50 per share.

Today, CVR Partners and CVR Refining announced that the partnerships will not pay a cash distribution for the 2016 third quarter.

Petroleum Business

The petroleum business, which is operated by CVR Refining and includes the Coffeyville and Wynnewood refineries, reported third quarter 2016 operating income of $28.4 million on net sales of $1,163.5 million, compared to operating income of $137.2 million on net sales of $1,361.6 million in the third quarter of 2015.

Refining margin adjusted for FIFO impact per crude oil throughput barrel, a non-GAAP financial measure, was $10.09 in the 2016 third quarter, compared to $18.65 during the same period in 2015. Direct operating expenses (exclusive of depreciation and amortization), excluding major scheduled turnaround expenses, per crude oil throughput barrel, for the 2016 third quarter were $5.33, compared to $5.27 in the third quarter of 2015.

Third quarter 2016 throughputs of crude oil and all other feedstocks and blendstocks totaled 206,733 barrels per day (bpd), compared to third quarter 2015 throughputs of crude oil and all other feedstocks and blendstocks of 210,917 bpd.

Nitrogen Fertilizers Business

The fertilizer business, which is operated by CVR Partners and includes the Coffeyville and East Dubuque fertilizer facilities, reported third quarter 2016 operating income of $2.4 million on net sales of $78.5 million, compared to an operating loss of $11.8 million on net sales of $49.3 million for the third quarter of 2015.

For the third quarter of 2016, consolidated average realized gate prices for UAN and ammonia were $154 per ton and $345 per ton, respectively. Average realized gate prices for UAN and ammonia for the Coffeyville plant were $227 per ton and $478 per ton, respectively, for the same period in 2015.

In the 2016 third quarter, CVR Partners’ fertilizer facilities produced a combined 200,800 tons of ammonia, of which 60,300 net tons were available for sale while the rest was upgraded to other fertilizer products, including 317,200 tons of UAN. In the 2015 third quarter, the Coffeyville plant produced 66,300 tons of ammonia and purchased an additional 7,500 tons of ammonia, of which 12,100 net tons were available for sale while the remainder was upgraded to 152,400 tons of UAN.

Cash and Debt

Consolidated cash and cash equivalents, which included $285.9 million for CVR Refining and $65.3 million for CVR Partners, was $762.6 million at Sept. 30, 2016. Consolidated total debt was $1,166.3 million at Sept. 30, 2016. The company had no debt exclusive of CVR Refining’s and CVR Partners’ debt.

Third Quarter 2016 Earnings Conference Call

CVR Energy previously announced that it will host its third quarter 2016 Earnings Conference Call for analysts and investors on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 3 p.m. Eastern. The Earnings Conference Call may also include discussion of company developments, forward-looking information and other material information about business and financial matters.

The Earnings Conference Call will be broadcast live over the Internet at https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/1003/17701. For investors or analysts who want to participate during the call, the dial-in number is (877) 407-8291.

For those unable to listen live, the Webcast will be archived and available for 14 days at https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/1003/17701. A repeat of the conference call can be accessed by dialing (877) 660-6853, conference ID 13647403.