CVR ENERGY INC (CVI) Business

Item 1.    Business

Overview

CVR Energy, Inc. is a diversified holding company, formed in September 2006, primarily engaged in the petroleum refining and marketing industry, the renewable fuels industry, and the nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing industry through its interest in CVR Partners, LP, a publicly traded limited partnership (“CVR Partners”). As used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the terms “CVR Energy”, the “Company”, “we”, “us”, or “our” generally include the Company’s subsidiaries, including CVR Partners and its subsidiaries, as consolidated subsidiaries of the Company, unless otherwise noted or implied.

As of December 31, 2025, we had three reportable segments as follows:

•Petroleum Segment includes the refining and marketing of high value transportation fuels which consist of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and distillates. The Petroleum Segment also includes activities related to crude gathering and logistics that support the refinery operations.

•Renewables Segment includes the refining of renewable feedstocks, such as soybean oil, corn oil, and other renewable feedstocks, into renewable diesel and marketing of renewables products.

•Nitrogen Fertilizer Segment includes the production and distribution of nitrogen fertilizer products, primarily in the form of ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate (“UAN”), for the farming industry.

In December 2025, the Company reverted the renewable diesel unit (“RDU”) at the Wynnewood Refinery (defined below) back to hydrocarbon processing service, considering the unfavorable economics of the renewables business and to optimize feedstock and relieve certain logistical constraints within the refining business. While the Company maintains the option to switch back to renewable diesel service if incentivized to do so, this reversion is expected to result in changes to the Company’s reportable segments in 2026, subject to completion of financial reporting assessments. As of December 31, 2025, no changes have been made to the Company’s reportable segments, and there were no impacts on the segment results presented as of and for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Refer to “Petroleum”, “Renewables”, and “Nitrogen Fertilizer” below and Part II, Item 8, Note 15 (“Business Segments”) for further details on our reportable segments.

In October 2007, our common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “CVI”, and in April 2011, CVR Partners’ common units began trading on the NYSE under the symbol “UAN”. As of December 31, 2025, Icahn Enterprises L.P. and its affiliates, including Mr. Carl C. Icahn (collectively, “IEP”), owned approximately 70% of our outstanding common stock. As of December 31, 2025, CVR Energy owned the general partner and approximately 37% of the outstanding common units representing limited partner interests in CVR Partners; public common unitholders and IEP held the remaining approximately 60% and 3% of the outstanding common units of CVR Partners, respectively.

Petroleum

Our Petroleum Segment is composed of the assets and operations of two refineries located in Coffeyville, Kansas and Wynnewood, Oklahoma and supporting crude gathering and logistics assets in the region.

Facilities

Coffeyville Refinery - Various of our subsidiaries own or operate, as applicable, a complex full coking, medium-sour crude oil refinery in southeast Kansas, approximately 100 miles from Cushing, Oklahoma (“Cushing”) with a name plate crude oil capacity of 132,000 bpd (the “Coffeyville Refinery”). The major operations of the Coffeyville Refinery include fractionation, catalytic cracking, hydrotreating, reforming, coking, isomerization, alkylation, sulfur recovery, and propane and butane recovery operating units. The Coffeyville Refinery’s significant refining unit redundancies, including two crude oil distillation

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units, two vacuum towers, two sulfur recovery units, and five hydrotreating units, enable it to continue receiving and processing crude oil even when a tower is down for maintenance, avoiding a full-refinery shutdown.

Coffeyville Refinery Throughput and Production

Wynnewood Refinery - Since December 2011, various of our subsidiaries own or operate, as applicable, a complex crude oil refinery in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, approximately 65 miles south of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and approximately 130 miles from Cushing (the “Wynnewood Refinery” and together with the Coffeyville Refinery, the “Refineries”). The Wynnewood Refinery has a name plate crude oil capacity of 74,500 bpd with major operations including fractionation, fluid catalytic cracking, hydrotreating, hydrocracking, reforming, alkylation, sulfur recovery, and propane and butane recovery. Similar to the Coffeyville Refinery, the Wynnewood Refinery benefits from unit redundancies, including two crude oil distillation units, two vacuum towers, and four hydrotreating units.

Wynnewood Refinery Throughput and Production

Supply

The Coffeyville Refinery has the capability to process a variety of crude oils ranging from heavy sour to light sweet crude oil. Currently, the Coffeyville Refinery crude oil slate consists of a blend of mid-continent domestic grades and various Canadian medium and heavy sours and other similarly sourced crudes. Other blendstocks and intermediates include ethanol, biodiesel, normal butane, natural gasoline, alkylation feeds, naphtha, gas oil, and vacuum tower bottoms. The Wynnewood Refinery has the capability to process a variety of crude oils ranging from medium sour to light sweet crude oil. Isobutane, gasoline components, and normal butane blendstocks are also typically used.

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In addition to the use of third-party pipelines, we have an extensive gathering system consisting of logistics assets that are owned, leased, or part of a joint venture operation. These assets include the following:

(1)We own a 40% interest in Enable JV and, while we have the ability to exercise influence through our participation on the board of directors of Enable JV, we do not serve as the day-to-day operator. We have determined that this entity should not be consolidated and is accounted for under the equity method. Refer to Part II, Item 8, Note 5 (“Equity Method Investments”) of this Report for further discussion.

(2)In support of our Coffeyville Refinery, we operate a tank storage facility in close proximity to the Coffeyville Refinery (the “East Tank Farm”).

For the acquisition of crude oil within close proximity of the Refineries, we operate a fleet of trucks and have contracts with third-party trucking fleets to acquire and deliver crude oil to our pipeline systems or directly to the Refineries primarily for consumption. For the year ended December 31, 2025, the gathering system, which includes the pipelines outlined above and our trucking operations, supplied approximately 67% and 94% of the Coffeyville and Wynnewood Refineries’ crude oil demand, respectively. Regionally sourced crude oils delivered to the Refineries usually have a transportation cost advantage compared to other domestic or international crudes given the Refineries’ proximity to the producing areas. However, sometimes slightly heavier and more sour crude oils may offer improved economics to the Refineries, notwithstanding the higher transportation costs. The regionally-sourced crude oils we purchase have been light and sweet enough to allow the Refineries to blend higher percentages of lower cost crude oils, such as heavy Canadian sour, to optimize economics within operational constraints.

Crude oils sourced outside of our gathering system are delivered to Cushing by various third-party pipelines, including the Keystone and Spearhead pipelines, on which we can be subject to proration, and subsequently to the Broome Station facility via the Midway Pipeline. From the Broome Station facility, crude oil is delivered to the Coffeyville Refinery via the Petroleum Segment’s 170,000 bpd pipeline system. Crude oils are delivered to the Wynnewood Refinery through third-party and joint venture pipelines and received into storage tanks located within or near the refinery. We also lease tank storage totaling 2.2 million barrels, including 2.0 million barrels at Cushing.

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The Coffeyville Refinery is connected to the mid-continent natural gas liquid commercial hub at Conway, Kansas by the inbound Enterprise Pipeline Blue Line, through which natural gas liquid blendstocks, such as butanes and natural gasoline, are sourced and delivered directly into the refinery. In addition, the Coffeyville Refinery’s proximity to Conway, Kansas provides access to natural gas liquid and liquid petroleum gas fractionation and storage capabilities.

Through the crude oil and other feedstock supply operations outlined above, and the associated markets available to us, we are able to source and refine crude oils from different locations and of different compositions when it is economically advantageous for us to do so.

Marketing and Distribution

Products produced at our Coffeyville Refinery are generally sold in the central mid-continent area through rack marketing, which is the supply of product through tanker trucks and railcars directly to customers located in close geographic proximity to the refinery and to customers at terminals on third-party refined products distribution systems; and bulk sales into the mid-continent markets and other destinations utilizing third-party product pipeline networks.

Products produced at our Wynnewood Refinery are generally shipped via pipeline, railcar, and truck, primarily to Oklahoma and parts of Arkansas, as well as eastern Missouri. The pipeline system connected to our Wynnewood Refinery is capable of multi-directional flow, providing access to Texas as well as adjoining states with pipeline connections.

Customers

Customers for the petroleum products produced at the Refineries primarily include retailers, railroads, farm cooperatives, and other refiners/marketers in Group 3 of the PADD II region because of their relative proximity to the Refineries and pipeline access. We typically sell bulk products to long-standing customers at spot market prices based on a Group 3 basis differential to prices quoted on the New York Mercantile Exchange (“NYMEX”) subject to other terms or adjustments, which are reported by industry market-related indices such as Platts and Oil Price Information Service.

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Rack sales occur at posted prices, which are impacted by the competitive dynamics in Group 3 of the PADD II region, among other factors. In addition, we sell hydrogen and by-products of our refining operations in Coffeyville, Kansas, such as pet coke, to an affiliate, Coffeyville Resources Nitrogen Fertilizer, LLC (“CRNF”), which is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of CVR Partners. The Petroleum Segment’s top customer represented 12% and 13% of its net sales for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively, and its top two customers represented 27% of its net sales for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Competition

Our Petroleum Segment competes primarily on the basis of price, reliability of supply, availability of multiple grades of products, and location. The principal competitive factors affecting its refining operations are cost of crude oil and other feedstocks, refinery complexity, refinery efficiency, refinery product mix, product distribution and transportation costs, and costs of compliance with government regulations, including the Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”). The locations of the Refineries generally provide us with a reliable supply of crude oil and a transportation cost advantage over our competitors. We primarily compete against CHS Inc.’s McPherson Refinery; HF Sinclair Corporation’s El Dorado and Tulsa Refineries; Phillips 66 Company’s Ponca Refinery; and Valero Energy Corporation’s Ardmore Refinery in the mid-continent region. In addition to these refineries, we compete against trading companies, as well as other refineries located outside the region that are linked to the mid-continent market through product pipeline systems, including those near the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, and the Texas panhandle regions.

Seasonality

Our Petroleum Segment experiences seasonal fluctuations as demand for gasoline products is generally higher during the summer months than during the winter months due to seasonal increases in highway traffic and road construction work. Demand for diesel fuel is higher during the planting and harvesting seasons. As a result, our results of operations for the Petroleum Segment for the first and fourth calendar quarters are generally lower compared to our results for the second and third calendar quarters. In addition, unseasonably cool weather in the summer months and/or unseasonably warm weather in the winter months in the markets in which we sell petroleum products can impact the demand for gasoline and diesel fuel.

Renewables

Prior to the reversion of the RDU back to hydrocarbon processing service in December 2025, our Renewables Segment was composed of the RDU and renewable feedstock pretreater (“PTU”) at the Wynnewood Refinery (collectively, the “Wynnewood Renewable Facility”).

Facilities

In April 2022, we completed a project at our Wynnewood Refinery that converted the refinery’s hydrocracker to a RDU capable of producing approximately 80 million gallons of renewable diesel per year. The produced renewable diesel generated federal renewable identification numbers (“RINs”), which were sold to our Petroleum Segment to help meet its RFS compliance obligations, as discussed in “Environmental Matters - Renewable Fuel Standard”. Further, as a low-carbon fuel, renewable diesel produced at the Wynnewood Renewable Facility generated LCFS credits for our customers who transported such product to states with low carbon fuel programs, primarily to California.

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Supply

All feedstock required for renewable diesel production was purchased in connection with a third-party supply agreement under which the third-party was responsible for the procurement and delivery of feedstock to the Wynnewood Renewable Facility. Its strategic and central position in an agriculturally rich region, coupled with an extensive network of transportation infrastructure, offered ease of access to a wide range of renewable feedstocks.

Marketing and Distribution

The products produced at the Wynnewood Renewable Facility were generally sold through two third-party offtake agreements. Under these agreements, the third parties had agreed to purchase substantially all of our renewable diesel produced, which was delivered primarily via railcar. The remaining products produced at the Wynnewood Renewable Facility were sold to and consumed by our Petroleum Segment.

Competition

We faced competition from renewable fuel producers and others that have been offering or might offer products with lower emissions. In connection with the sourcing of our renewable feedstocks, we face not only competition from consumers in the energy sector, such as renewable fuel producers, but also from non-energy related consumers, such as food producers. This increased competition from non-traditional food producers creates a unique dynamic of competing priorities for food versus fuel.

Governmental Credits

Profitability in our Renewables Segment was also highly dependent upon government incentives, such as tax and carbon credits. Prior to its expiration on December 31, 2024, the Biodiesel Blenders’ Tax Credit (“BTC”) provided a $1-per-gallon tax incentive for renewable diesel mixture produced and sold. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “Inflation Reduction Act”) established the Clean Fuel Production Credit (“PTC”), which was later modified and extended by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the “OBBB”). The PTC is intended to provide a tax credit for domestic production and qualifying sale of clean transportation fuels beginning in 2025, although at a value significantly lower than the BTC. As the regulations necessary to properly apply the PTC had not been issued, we did not recognize any PTC benefit in 2025.

On February 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) published proposed regulations under Section 45Z of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 governing the PTC which indicate that the Company’s renewable fuel sales would meet the definition of a qualifying sale for purposes of the PTC. The proposed regulations are not effective until finalized and may be modified before adoption. The Company will continue to monitor developments related to the proposed regulations.

Nitrogen Fertilizer

Our Nitrogen Fertilizer Segment is composed of the assets and operations of CVR Partners, including two nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing facilities located in Coffeyville, Kansas and East Dubuque, Illinois.

Facilities

Coffeyville Fertilizer Facility - We own and operate a nitrogen fertilizer production facility in Coffeyville, Kansas that includes a gasifier complex having a capacity of 89 million standard cubic feet per day of hydrogen, a 1,300 ton per day capacity ammonia unit and a 3,100 ton per day capacity UAN unit (the “Coffeyville Fertilizer Facility”). The Coffeyville Fertilizer Facility is the only nitrogen fertilizer facility in North America that utilizes pet coke, which is purchased from our Coffeyville Refinery and third parties, in a gasification process to produce hydrogen for use in manufacturing nitrogen fertilizer.

East Dubuque Fertilizer Facility - We own and operate a nitrogen fertilizer production facility in East Dubuque, Illinois, that includes a 1,075 ton per day capacity ammonia unit and a 950 ton per day capacity UAN unit (the “East Dubuque Fertilizer Facility”). The East Dubuque Fertilizer Facility has the flexibility to vary its product mix, thereby enabling it to upgrade a portion of its ammonia production into varying amounts of UAN and nitric acid, depending on market demand, pricing, and

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storage availability. The East Dubuque Fertilizer Facility utilizes natural gas, which is purchased from third parties, to produce hydrogen for use in manufacturing nitrogen fertilizer.

Agriculture, Commodities and Seasonality

Nutrients are depleted in soil over time and, therefore, must be replenished through fertilizer application. Nitrogen is the most quickly depleted nutrient and must be replenished every year, whereas phosphate and potassium can be retained in soil for up to three years. Plants require nitrogen in the largest amounts, and it accounts for approximately 58% of primary fertilizer consumption on a nutrient ton basis, per the International Fertilizer Association.

The three primary forms of nitrogen fertilizer used in the United States are ammonia, urea, and UAN. Unlike ammonia and urea, UAN can be applied throughout the growing season and can be applied in tandem with pesticides and herbicides, providing farmers with flexibility and cost savings. As a result of these factors, UAN typically commands a premium price to urea and ammonia, on a nitrogen equivalent basis.

The nitrogen fertilizer products we produce are globally traded commodities and are subject to price competition. The customers for CVR Partners’ products make their purchasing decisions principally on the basis of delivered price and, to a lesser extent, on customer service and product quality. The selling prices of its products fluctuate in response to global market conditions, feedstock costs, and changes in supply and demand.

Our Nitrogen Fertilizer Segment experiences seasonal fluctuations as demand for fertilizers is affected by the aggregate crop planting and fertilizer application rate decisions of individual farmers who make such determinations based largely on the prospective profitability of a harvest. The specific varieties and amounts of fertilizer farmers apply depend on factors like crop prices, their current liquidity, soil conditions, weather patterns, and the types of crops planted. The Nitrogen Fertilizer Segment typically experiences higher net sales in the first half of the calendar year, which is referred to as the planting season, and its net sales tend to be lower during the second half of each calendar year, which is referred to as the fill season.

Demand

Global demand for fertilizers is driven primarily by grain demand and prices, which, in turn, are driven by population growth, farmland per capita, dietary changes in the developing world, and increased consumption of bio-fuels. Global fertilizer use, consisting of nitrogen, phosphate, and potash, is projected to increase by 5% from 2022 through 2026 to meet global demand.

The United States is the world’s largest exporter of coarse grains, accounting for 35% of world exports and 28% of world production for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”). A substantial amount of nitrogen is consumed in production of these crops to increase yield. Fertecon Limited, an agency which provides market information and analysis on fertilizers and fertilizer raw materials, estimates indicate that China, India, and the United States are the top consumers representing 24%, 17%, and 10% of total global nitrogen fertilizer consumption for 2025, respectively.

North American nitrogen fertilizer producers predominantly use natural gas as their primary feedstock. Over the last five years, U.S. oil and natural gas reserves have increased significantly due to, among other factors, advances in extracting shale oil and gas, as well as improvements in drilling efficiencies and reduced production costs. As a result, North America has been a low-cost region for nitrogen fertilizer production.

Raw Material Supply

A key ingredient used in the manufacturing process of our nitrogen fertilizer products is hydrogen, which is sourced from pet coke gasification or natural gas. CVR Partners benefits from logistical advantages for both feedstocks, ensuring a stable and secure supply chain. A substantial part of our pet coke requirements are supplied by our adjacent Coffeyville Refinery pursuant to the Coffeyville Master Services Agreement (the “Coffeyville MSA”). In 2025, 2024, and 2023, our supply of pet coke from the Coffeyville Refinery was approximately 36%, 46%, and 43%, respectively. Historically, the Coffeyville Fertilizer Facility has obtained the remainder of its pet coke requirements through third-party contracts with delivery provided by truck, railcar, or barge.

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We are generally able to purchase natural gas at competitive prices due to the connection of our East Dubuque Fertilizer Facility to the Northern Natural Gas interstate pipeline system, which is within one mile of the facility, and a third-party owned and operated pipeline. The pipelines are connected to a third-party distribution system at the Chicago Citygate receipt point and at the Hampshire interconnect from which natural gas is transported to the East Dubuque Fertilizer Facility.

Marketing and Distribution

Our Nitrogen Fertilizer Segment primarily markets UAN products to agricultural customers and ammonia products to agricultural and industrial customers. UAN and ammonia, including freight, accounted for approximately 67% and 24%, respectively, of our Nitrogen Fertilizer Segment’s total net sales for the year ended December 31, 2025.

CVR Partners distributes its nitrogen fertilizer products via railcars, primarily using the Union Pacific or Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads, trucks for direct shipment to customers, and barges, as it has direct access to a barge dock on the Mississippi River. If delivered by truck, products are most commonly sold on a shipping point basis, and freight is normally arranged by the customer. If delivered by railcar, products are most commonly sold on a destination point basis, and we typically arrange the freight. In addition, given the East Dubuque Fertilizer Facility’s advantaged location in the heart of the agriculture country, CVR Partners ships substantially all of its products within 100 miles of the facility.

Customers

Retailers and distributors are the main customers for UAN and, more broadly, the industrial and agricultural sectors are the primary recipients of our ammonia products. Given the nature of our nitrogen fertilizer business, and consistent with industry practice, we sell our products on a wholesale basis under a contract or by purchase order. Contracts with customers generally contain fixed pricing and have terms of less than one year. The Nitrogen Fertilizer Segment’s top two customers represented 28% and 25% of its net sales for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2023, respectively, and its top customer represented 14% of its net sales for the year ended December 31, 2024.

Competition

Nitrogen fertilizer production is a global market with competitors in every region of the world, with barge and rail distribution fostering healthy competition throughout the United States. The industry is dominated by price considerations, which are driven by raw material and transportation costs, currency fluctuations, trade barriers, and regulators. Our Nitrogen Fertilizer Segment has experienced, and expects to continue to experience, significant levels of competition from domestic and foreign nitrogen fertilizer producers, many of whom have significantly greater financial and other resources. Farming activities intensify in the United States during the spring and fall fertilizer application periods, and geographic proximity to these activities is also a significant competitive advantage for domestic producers. We seek to manage our manufacturing and distribution operations to best serve our customers during these critical periods.

Subject to location and other considerations, our major domestic competitors in the nitrogen fertilizer business generally includes CF Industries Holdings, Inc., which sells significantly more nitrogen fertilizers in the United States than other industry participants; Nutrien Ltd.; Koch Fertilizer Company, LLC; and LSB Industries, Inc. Domestic customers generally demonstrate sophisticated buying tendencies that include a focus on cost and service. We also encounter competition from producers of fertilizer products manufactured in foreign countries, including the threat of increased production capacity. In certain cases, foreign producers of fertilizer that export to the United States may be subsidized by their respective governments which could put us at a competitive disadvantage.

Environmental Matters

Our businesses are subject to extensive and frequently changing federal, state, and local environmental laws, rules, and regulations governing the emission and release of regulated substances into the environment, the transportation, storage, and disposal of waste, the treatment and discharge of wastewater and stormwater, the storage, handling, use, and transportation of petroleum, renewable and nitrogen fertilizer products, and the characteristics and composition of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels, renewable fuels, UAN, and ammonia. These laws and regulations and the enforcement thereof impact our segments and their operations by imposing:

•restrictions on operations or the need to install and operate enhanced or additional control and monitoring equipment;

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•liability for the investigation and remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater at current and former facilities (if any) and for off-site waste disposal locations; and

•specifications for the products marketed by the Petroleum, Renewables, and Nitrogen Fertilizer Segments, primarily gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels, renewable diesel, UAN, and ammonia.

Our operations require numerous permits, licenses, and authorizations. Failure to comply with these permits, licenses, authorizations, or environmental laws, rules, and regulations could result in fines, penalties, or other sanctions or liabilities or a revocation of our permits, licenses, or authorizations. In addition, the laws, rules, and regulations to which we are subject are often evolving and many of them have or could become more stringent or subject to more stringent interpretation or enforcement by federal or state agencies or courts, or could be changed in ways adverse to us. These laws and regulations could result in increased capital, operating, and compliance costs.

Greenhouse Gas Footprint Reduction Efforts

Since 2020, the Nitrogen Fertilizer Segment has generated carbon offset credits from voluntary nitrous oxide (“N2O”) abatement for one nitric acid plant at its Coffeyville Fertilizer Facility, with similar N2O abatement efforts at its East Dubuque Fertilizer Facility since June 2011. From 2021 to 2024, the N2O abatement systems at the East Dubuque Fertilizer Facility’s two nitric acid plants and the Coffeyville Fertilizer Facility’s nitric acid plant have abated, on average, the annual release of approximately 268,000 and 316,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent (“CO2e”), respectively. In December 2025, the Coffeyville Fertilizer Facility began operation of its second N2O abatement system on the remaining nitric acid plant, enabling the generation of additional carbon offset credits for future years.

CVR Partners’ N2O abatement projects are registered with the Climate Action Reserve (the “Reserve”), a carbon offset registry for the North American market. The Reserve employs standards and an independent third-party verification process to issue its carbon credits, known as Climate Reserve Tonnes.

The Nitrogen Fertilizer Segment also sequesters carbon dioxide that is not utilized for urea production at its Coffeyville Fertilizer Facility by capturing and purifying the carbon oxide as part of its manufacturing process. Certain carbon oxide capture and sequestration activities conducted at or in connection with the Coffeyville Fertilizer Facility qualify under the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) safe harbor described in Revenue Procedure 2020-12 for certain tax credits available to joint ventures under Section 45Q of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“Section 45Q Credits”). In January 2023, the Nitrogen Fertilizer Segment entered into a series of agreements with CapturePoint LLC, an unaffiliated third-party (“CapturePoint”), and certain unaffiliated third-party investors intended to qualify under the IRS safe harbor described in Revenue Procedure 2020-12 for certain joint ventures that are eligible to claim Section 45Q Credits and allow us to monetize Section 45Q Credits we expect to generate until March 31, 2030.

By combining our nitrous oxide abatement and carbon oxide sequestration activities, we reduced our CO2e footprint by over 1.3 million metric tons in 2024. In addition, our Coffeyville Fertilizer Facility is uniquely qualified to produce hydrogen and ammonia that could be certified ‘blue’ to a market that is increasingly demanding reduced carbon footprints. These greenhouse gas footprint reduction efforts support our core Values of Environment and Continuous Improvement, and our goal of continuing to produce nitrogen fertilizers that produce crops that help to feed the world’s growing population in the most environmentally responsible way possible.

The Federal Clean Air Act (“CAA”)

The CAA and its implementing regulations, as well as state laws and regulations governing air emissions, affect our businesses both directly and indirectly. Direct impacts may occur through the CAA’s permitting requirements and/or emission control and monitoring requirements relating to specific air pollutants, as well as the requirement to maintain a risk management program to help prevent accidental releases of certain regulated substances. The CAA affects our businesses by extensively regulating the air emissions of sulfur dioxide (“SO2”), volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, and other substances, including those emitted by mobile sources, which are direct or indirect users of our products. Some or all of the regulations promulgated pursuant to the CAA, or any future promulgations of regulations, may require the installation of controls or changes to the Refineries and/or the nitrogen fertilizer facilities (collectively referred to as the “Facilities”) to maintain compliance. If new controls or changes to operations are needed, the costs could be material.

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The regulation of air emissions under the CAA requires that we obtain various construction and operating permits and incur capital expenditures for the installation of certain air pollution control devices at our operations. Various standards and programs specific to our operations have been implemented, such as the National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants, the New Source Performance Standards, and the New Source Review.

On September 12, 2025, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) proposed to permanently remove program obligations for 46 source categories of the Greenhouse Gas (“GHG”) Reporting Program (“GHGRP”) and the proposed rule has not been finalized. Under the proposal, our Facilities would no longer report to the EPA under the GHGRP after reporting year 2024.

In August 2025, the EPA proposed to repeal all GHG emission standards for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles and engines. These proposals followed the January 20, 2025 White House issued Executive Orders (“EO”) 141154 titled “Unleashing American Energy”, and EO 14162 “Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements” directing the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. On February 12, 2026, the EPA announced a final rule to rescind the 2009 GHG Endangerment Finding, the basis for Federal GHG standards for motor vehicles and engines, after concluding it did not have statutory authority to regulate GHG emission under Section 202(a) of the CAA. The final rule repeals all GHG emission standards for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles and engines proposed in August 2025 for model years 2012 – 2027 and beyond.

We cannot predict exactly how these EOs, directives and proposed and final regulations will impact our business. It is possible there may be impacts on other regulatory areas under the CAA, such as stationary sources, and the final GHG rule may face legal challenges.

Renewable Fuel Standard

Pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which was intended “to move the United States toward greater energy independence…[and] increase the production of clean renewable fuels,” Congress established the RFS, which requires obligated parties, defined by the EPA as refiners and importers of transportation fuels, to either blend “renewable fuels”, such as ethanol and biofuels, into their transportation fuels or purchase renewable fuel credits, known as renewable identification numbers (“RINs”), in lieu of blending. The RFS established annually increasing volume targets, called Renewable Volume Obligations (“RVOs”), for biomass-based diesel through 2012 and for the remaining three categories of renewable fuel (cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and renewable fuel) through 2022. For periods following 2022, the statute directs the EPA to use its “set” authority to determine the RVO based on certain criteria, including, among other factors, the impact of renewable fuels on the environment, energy security, and transportation fuel costs to consumers. On June 21, 2023, the EPA announced its final rule establishing applicable renewable volumes and percentage standards for 2023 through 2025. In the rule, the EPA set the implied conventional renewable volume requirement at 15 billion gallons, which is beyond the “blend wall,” or the point at which the percentage of ethanol required to be blended into the gasoline supply exceeds the level at which most engines can safely run on gasoline blended with ethanol. In addition, for the first time, the EPA established a cellulosic biofuel standard without utilizing the cellulosic waiver and issuing cellulosic waiver credits. In June 2025, the EPA proposed the 2026 and 2027 biomass-based diesel volume at 7.12 and 7.50 billion biomass-based diesel (“D4”) RINs, respectively, which is a significant increase over the 2025 volume of 5.36 billion RINs, while holding the ethanol conventional biofuel volume at 15 billion RINs. In July 2025, the EPA’s partial waiver of the 2024 cellulosic biofuel volume requirement was published in the Federal Register, making the 2024 RFS compliance reporting deadline for all obligated parties December 1, 2025. In September 2025, the EPA announced a supplemental proposed rule co-proposing additional RVOs representing reallocation of volumes the EPA waived in August 2025 through its grants of certain small refinery exemptions (“SRE”) for the 2023 and 2024 compliance periods, as well as SREs it is projected to grant for 2025, at both 100% and 50% of the waived volumes. The comment period for this supplemental proposed rule expired on October 31, 2025, though the EPA has yet to finalize the rule. Given that the compliance requirements for 2026 through 2027 remain under regulatory development, revisions to final RVO levels, RIN availability, or compliance mechanisms could materially impact the cost, timing, and feasibility of compliance for the obligated-party subsidiaries.

Coffeyville Resources Refining & Marketing, LLC (“CRRM”) and Wynnewood Refining Company, LLC (“WRC”, and together with CRRM, the “obligated-party subsidiaries”) have been deemed by EPA to be obligated parties under the RFS. WRC has qualified, and is currently expected in the future to qualify, as a “small refinery” defined under the RFS as a refinery with an average aggregate daily crude oil throughput no greater than 75,000 barrels. WRC may petition for and receive SREs under the RFS should the EPA conclude it suffered disproportionate economic hardship. In August 2025 (the “August 2025

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SRE Decisions”), the EPA acted on 175 individual SRE petitions from numerous small refineries, including WRC, that had been pending before the EPA in some cases for years. In the August 2025 SRE Decisions, in addition to acknowledging its prior grants of WRC’s SRE petitions for the 2017 and 2018 compliance periods, the EPA granted WRC complete relief for the 2019 and 2021 compliance periods and 50% relief for the 2020 and 2022 through 2024 compliance periods. The EPA has yet to act on WRC’s SRE petition for the 2025 compliance period, which remains pending.

Our obligated-party subsidiaries are not able to meet the majority of their annual RVOs through blending, so, unless their RVOs are waived or exempted, they have had to and currently expect to be required in the future to purchase RINs on the open market from third parties, including but not limited to its affiliates. Our obligated-party subsidiaries have also purchased cellulosic waiver credits in years in which they are made available by the EPA.

The cost of purchasing RINs and cellulosic waiver credits fluctuates and can be significant. The price of RINs became extremely volatile, particularly when the EPA’s RVO mandates approach or exceed the blend wall. Currently, the blend wall is generally considered to be reached when more than 10 percent ethanol by volume (“E10”) is blended into gasoline. The price of RINs has also been impacted by the depletion of the carryover RIN bank, requiring carryover RINs from the RIN bank to be used to settle RVOs. The volatility of RIN prices also increased significantly in response to a number of factors, which we believe include, but are not limited to, the actions of RIN market participants including those not deemed by the EPA to be obligated parties, various government laws, rules, policies and initiatives relating to climate change and/or agricultural and biofuels policies, and the actions of the EPA in administrating the RFS, such as the EPA’s failure to include blenders in the definition of obligated parties, its failure to timely administer the RFS and its historical denials of and failure to timely rule on SREs. Government actions, litigation by refiners including our obligated-party subsidiaries, biofuels groups and others, as well as efforts by certain parties to change the RFS to limit hardship relief available to certain small refineries, has also significantly impacted us and the price of RINs, including but not limited to the following:

•On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued EO 14156, in which he directed the EPA, in consultation with the Department of Energy, to consider issuing emergency fuel waivers to allow the year-round sale of E15 (gasoline blended with 15% ethanol) “to meet any projected temporary shortfalls in the supply of gasoline across the nation.” The EO cites the same CAA waiver provision used by the Biden Administration in 2022, 2023, and 2024. In April 2022, a group of Midwestern governors petitioned the EPA to allow summertime sales of E15 in their states, including Kansas, under the CAA. On July 21, 2022, the Governor of Kansas rescinded Kansas’ summertime E15 request. In February 2024, the EPA issued its final rule to allow summertime sales of E15 for the eight states that did not rescind their requests. Beginning in 2025, certain oil, renewables and agriculture groups proposed various legislation seeking to amend the CAA to authorize year-round E15 while also revising the definition of small refinery under the RFS to include only those refineries with refining capacity, when combined with the refining capacity of any affiliated refinery, under 75,000 bpd, among other proposed changes, which legislation certain small refineries, including CRRM and WRC, have opposed. In January 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives created the E15 Rural Domestic Energy Council to “develop legislative solutions to address the crisis facing our nation’s farmers and refiners” including investigation of “topics including, but not limited to, the sale of Ethanol-15, U.S. refinery capacity, the Renewable Fuel Standard Program, Renewable Identification Numbers, access to markets, and federal regulations that hinder American energy dominance.” Numerous parties, including the Company, have and are expected to engage with various members of Congress relating thereto, the outcome of which could have material impacts not only on the price of RINs but on the Company’s operations, financial condition, and cash flows.

•In December 2023, WRC and CRRM submitted a petition for rulemaking to the EPA demanding that it cure its violation of the RFS, which we believe required the EPA to establish a credit trading program under which only obligated parties who over-comply with their RFS obligations could sell RINS generated through such over-compliance to other obligated parties. The EPA has not yet responded to our petition, and our obligated-party subsidiaries may file suit against the EPA in the future should it fail to act.

•Numerous parties, including WRC in October 2025, filed petitions for review in the DC Circuit of the August 2025 SRE Decisions, which petitions remain pending. Additionally, on October 24, 2025, the Renewable Fuels Association filed a petition for review of the August 2025 SRE Decisions, and on December 11, 2025, it filed a petition for review of the EPA’s decisions on other SRE petitions announced on November 7, 2025. The statement of issues filed with the court with respect to these petitions indicates that the issues raised relate to whether the EPA’s SRE decisions were arbitrary and capricious or exceeded the agency’s authority. Certain small refineries, including WRC, were granted leave to intervene in the petitions for review filed by certain biofuels groups challenging the EPA’s grant of SREs in the August 2025 SRE Decisions. These various lawsuits, now consolidated, could contribute to continued volatility in

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the RIN market and, if determined adversely to WRC, could materially impact WRC’s operations, financial condition, and cash flows.

As a result, our costs to comply with RFS (excluding the impacts of any exemptions or waivers to which the Petroleum Segment’s obligated-party subsidiaries may be entitled) having remained significant over the past several years and currently are expected to remain significant into 2026 and beyond, which volatility could have material impacts on the Company’s results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows.

The Federal Clean Water Act (“CWA”)

The CWA and its implementing regulations, as well as state laws and regulations that govern the discharge of pollutants into the water, affect our businesses. The CWA’s permitting requirements establish discharge limitations that may be based on technology standards, water quality standards, and restrictions on the total maximum daily load of pollutants allowed to enter a particular water body based on its use. In addition, water resources are becoming more scarce, and many refiners, including us, are subject to use restrictions in the event of low availability conditions. Our Refineries and the Coffeyville Fertilizer Facility have contracts in place to receive water during certain water shortage conditions, but these conditions and contracts could change over time depending on the scarcity of water.

In January 2021, the EPA announced it is undertaking a plan to review and update effluent standards for many industries. In that announcement, the EPA prioritized those sectors that are ranked high in point source categories for total nitrogen discharges, including fertilizer manufacturers. The EPA is continuing its review, including the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recent decision related to “Effluent Limitations, Guidelines, and Standards” (Waterkeeper Alliance v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 23-636 (9th Cir. June 18, 2025), which eventually could result in different regulations governing the Company.

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (“EPCRA”)

The release of hazardous substances or extremely hazardous substances into the environment is subject to release reporting requirements under federal and state environmental laws. Our Facilities also periodically experience releases of hazardous and extremely hazardous substances from their equipment and periodically have excess emission events that may be subject to cleanup and cost recovery actions under CERCLA in the future. From time to time, the EPA has conducted inspections and issued information requests to us with respect to our compliance with reporting requirements under the CERCLA and the EPCRA.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”)

Our Refineries and Fertilizer Facilities are subject to the RCRA requirements for the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, disposal, and management of solid and hazardous wastes. Besides governing current waste disposal practices, RCRA also addresses the environmental effects of certain past waste disposal practices, the recycling of wastes, and the regulation of underground storage tanks containing regulated substances. When feasible, RCRA-regulated materials are recycled instead of being disposed.

Impacts of Past Manufacturing - Two of our subsidiaries entered into a Consent Decree with the EPA and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (the “KDHE”) in March 2004 (“2004 Consent Decree”) that required us to assume two administrative orders for RCRA corrective action issued to the prior owner of the Coffeyville Refinery and Phillipsburg Terminal. In accordance with the Coffeyville Refinery administrative order, we conducted the required investigation and interim remediation projects and documented existing soil and groundwater conditions. A RCRA post-closure permit was issued by KDHE on December 16, 2020, and the Coffeyville Refinery administrative order was terminated on January 21, 2021. In addition, on January 13, 2021, the Coffeyville Fertilizer Facility entered into an agreement with the KDHE to address certain historical releases of UAN located on property held by CRNF that comingled with legacy groundwater contamination from the adjacent Coffeyville Refinery. The cleanup provisions of the agreement with the KDHE are held in abeyance so long as the Coffeyville Refinery conducts corrective action in accordance with CRRM’s RCRA permit.

The Phillipsburg terminal, which operated as a refinery until 1991, is subject to the administrative order related to investigation of releases of hazardous materials to the environment. The investigation is complete and corrective measures are

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in place implementing the Statement of Basis and Final Remedy Decision issued by the EPA in July 2018. The Phillipsburg Terminal has applied to the KDHE for a RCRA Post-Closure Corrective Action Permit. When issued, we anticipate that the administrative order for Phillipsburg will be terminated.

WRC entered into a consent order with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (the “ODEQ”) requiring further investigations of groundwater conditions and enhancements of existing remediation systems. We have completed the groundwater investigation at the Wynnewood Refinery and the consent order was terminated by the ODEQ in July 2019. The Wynnewood Refinery’s RCRA Permit was renewed on December 13, 2024, and included the incorporation of groundwater corrective action.

Financial Assurance - We are required under the 2004 Consent Decree, as modified by a 2010 agreement between CVR Energy subsidiaries, the EPA, and the KDHE, to establish financial assurance to secure the current projected clean-up cost for the Phillipsburg terminal. This financial assurance is currently provided by a bond in the amount of $2 million and is reduced each year based on expenditures for corrective actions. Additional financial assurance of approximately $4 million and $3 million is required to meet our RCRA financial obligations for the Coffeyville Refinery and Phillipsburg terminal. Current RCRA financial assurance requirements for the Wynnewood Refinery include approximately $3 million for hazardous waste storage tank closure, the post-closure monitoring of a closed storm water retention pond, and the projected clean-up costs. These RCRA financial assurance obligations are currently being satisfied by a surety bond, which are re-evaluated and adjusted on an annual basis.

Waste Management - There are fourteen closed hazardous waste units at the Coffeyville Refinery. There is one closed hazardous waste unit and one active hazardous waste storage tank at the Wynnewood Refinery. The now-closed Phillipsburg refinery has one regulatorily closed, interim status, hazardous waste land treatment facility that is no longer subject to post-closure care monitoring.

Environmental Remediation

As is the case with all companies engaged in similar industries, we face potential exposure from claims and lawsuits involving environmental matters, including soil and water contamination and personal injury or property damage allegedly caused by crude oil or hazardous substances that we processed, handled, used, stored, transported, spilled, disposed of, or released.

Environmental Insurance

We are covered by site pollution legal liability insurance policies, which insure any location owned, leased, rented, or operated by the Company, including the Refineries and the Facilities. The policies generally insure certain pollution conditions at or migrating from a covered location, certain waste transportation and disposal activities, and certain business interruption.

In addition to the site pollution legal liability insurance policies, we maintain and are covered by certain general liability, umbrella and excess casualty insurance policies (collectively, the “Casualty Policies”) which generally include sudden and accidental pollution coverage subject to time element provisions. The Casualty Policies generally provide coverage due to named perils for claims involving pollutants where the discharge is sudden and accidental and first commences at a specific day and time during the policy period.

The site pollution legal liability policy and the Casualty Policies are subject to retentions and deductibles and contain discovery requirements, waiting periods, reporting requirements, exclusions, definitions, conditions, and limitations that could apply to a particular pollution claim, and there can be no assurance such claim will be adequately insured for any or all potential damages or loss.

Health, Safety and Security Matters

We are subject to a number of federal and state laws and regulations related to safety, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) and comparable state statutes, the purposes of which are to protect the health and safety of workers. We are also subject to OSHA Process Safety Management regulations, which are designed to prevent or minimize the consequences of catastrophic releases of toxic, reactive, flammable, or explosive chemicals. We are committed to safe, reliable operations of our Facilities to protect the health and safety of our

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employees, our contractors, and the communities in which we operate. Our health and safety management systems are intended to provide a comprehensive approach to injury, illness and incident prevention, risk assessment and mitigation, and emergency management.

Our Facilities were subject to the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (“CFATS”), a regulatory program designed to ensure facilities have security measures in place to reduce the risk that certain hazardous chemicals are weaponized by terrorists. Despite the expiration of the CFATS in June 2023, our Facilities continue to adhere to its requirements. In addition, the East Dubuque Fertilizer Facility is regulated under the Maritime Transportation Security Act. We implement and maintain comprehensive security programs designed to comply with regulatory requirements and protect our assets and employees.

We periodically assess risk and conduct audits of our programs and seek to continually improve our health, safety, and security management systems.

Human Capital

Our employees are the most important part of our business and help us work to achieve our Mission to be a top-tier North American petroleum refining and nitrogen-based fertilizer company as measured by safe and reliable operations, superior financial performance and profitable growth. CVR Energy’s culture is defined by our core Values: Safety, Environment, Integrity, Corporate Citizenship and Continuous Improvement. The efforts of our employees in support of this Mission are guided each and every day by these core Values as we strive to achieve excellence for all of our key stakeholders – employees, communities and stockholders. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of this Report for further discussion on our Mission and core Values.

Workforce Profile

As of December 31, 2025, CVR Energy and its subsidiaries had 1,532 employees, all of which are located in the United States. Of these, 597 employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements.

Safety & Health

We are committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace and striving to protect our employees, contractors and communities. We seek to accomplish this through compliance with applicable workplace safety and environmental laws and regulations, seeking employee input, learning from any events, and maintaining comprehensive audit and training programs and emergency response and disaster recovery plans. To assess our safety performance, we monitor workplace injuries, process safety incidents, and environmental events, and perform compliance audits and risk assessments. We believe these efforts reinforce our safety culture; promote a safe workplace, accountability, and stronger community relations; help safeguard against complacency; and ultimately, enhance our safety performance and help us manage risk and reduce impact to personal health and safety and the environment.

Compensation & Benefits

We believe that our future success largely depends upon our continued ability to attract and retain highly skilled employees. We are committed to providing wages and benefits that are competitive with a market-based, pay-for-performance compensation philosophy. Our performance bonus program is an important component of our compensation program, rewarding high-performing employees for our performance against pre-defined safety and health, operational reliability, and financial measures. Senior employees may also receive long-term incentive awards that currently vest ratably over a three-year period, subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable award agreement, aligning employee compensation with the interests of our shareholders and promoting employee retention. We provide paid time off and paid holidays, a 401(k) Company match program, life insurance, health savings and dependent care flexible spending accounts, and an employee assistance program. In furtherance of our core Value of Continuous Improvement, we also offer programs for tuition reimbursement and dependent scholarships. We encourage all employees to live our core Value of Corporate Citizenship by making a positive impact in our communities by taking advantage of our volunteerism policy pursuant to which eligible employees are provided paid time off from work to volunteer at 501(c)(3) non-profit entities.

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Talent Management

We believe our competitive compensation and benefit plans allow us to attract and retain talented employees. Our recruiting strategy focuses on hiring practices that are free from bias for or against any individual or group of candidates. We continue to build upon our culture by expanding our recruitment efforts to include veteran recruitment and apprenticeship programs, recruiting interns at diverse colleges, and promoting representation within our workforce of individuals with diverse perspectives. In support of the personal development of our employees and our goal of employing and retaining effective and dynamic leaders, we provide in-person supervisor training to managers at all levels led by our executives, which focuses on a combination of business and leadership strategies, including coaching and performance management, goal setting, critical thinking, effective communication and listening, development and succession planning, delegation techniques, and legal aspects of leadership, among other topics. We hold supervisor training program refresher sessions, at least quarterly, to reinforce topics covered in the in-person sessions, as well as to cover new topics including accountability, team building and other leadership skills and topics.

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are an equal opportunity employer and strive to maintain a work environment free from harassment and discrimination regardless of race, religion, color, age, gender, disability, minority, sexual orientation, or any other protected class. Our recruiting efforts that include focus on veteran and diverse college populations, support this environment, as do the activities of our affinity groups. Our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct and our anti-discrimination and harassment policies also help us maintain a work environment where individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and where diversity of thought and perspective is valued.

Available Information

Our website address is www.CVREnergy.com. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports, filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are available free of charge through our website under “Investor Relations”, as soon as reasonably practicable after the electronic filing or furnishing of these reports is made with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) at www.sec.gov. In addition, our Corporate Governance Guidelines, Codes of Ethics and Business Conduct, and the charters of the Audit Committee, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, the Compensation Committee, and the Environmental, Health and Safety Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) are available on our website. These guidelines, policies, and charters are also available in print without charge to any stockholder requesting them. Information on our website is not a part of, and is not incorporated into, this Report or any other report we may file with or furnish to the SEC, whether before or after the date of this Report and irrespective of any general incorporation language therein.