Common Question:  What is OSLT?

A federal Oil Spill Liability Tax (OSLT) of 9 cents per barrel (or $0.00214 per gallon) is imposed on crude oil at the refinery gate. Proceeds from the OSLT go into a trust fund used by the Coast Guard to pay for clean-up after accidents like oil spills. The OSLT is not imposed, remitted or refunded downstream. The OSLT has no real impact on downstream marketers other than as a cost passed through on finished product. Some terminals break out the OSLT as a separate line item on bills of lading and invoices. This practice can cause some confusion downstream because the tax is paid by refiners on crude oil at the refinery gate.


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