
11.	FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

General

U.S. GAAP requires or permits certain assets and liabilities to be measured at fair value on a recurring or nonrecurring basis in our balance sheets, and those assets and liabilities are presented below under “Recurring Fair Value Measurements” and “Nonrecurring Fair Value Measurements.” Assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis, such as derivative financial instruments, are measured at fair value at the end of each reporting period. Assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis, such as the impairment of property, plant and equipment, are measured at fair value in particular circumstances.

U.S. GAAP also requires the disclosure of the fair values of financial instruments when an option to elect fair value accounting has been provided, but such election has not been made. A debt obligation is an example of such a financial instrument. The disclosure of the fair values of financial instruments not recognized at fair value in our balance sheet is presented below under “Other Financial Instruments.”

U.S. GAAP provides a framework for measuring fair value and establishes a three-level fair value hierarchy that prioritizes inputs to valuation techniques based on the degree to which objective prices in external active markets are available to measure fair value. Following is a description of each of the levels of the fair value hierarchy.


•	Level 1 - Observable inputs, such as unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.


•	Level 2 - Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly. These include quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets and quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active.

•

Level 3 - Unobservable inputs for the asset or liability. Unobservable inputs reflect our own assumptions about what market participants would use to price the asset or liability. The inputs are developed based on the best information available in the circumstances, which might include occasional market quotes or sales of similar instruments or our own financial data such as internally developed pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies, as well as instruments for which the fair value determination requires significant judgment.

Recurring Fair Value Measurements

The tables below present information (in millions) about our assets and liabilities recognized at their fair values in our balance sheets categorized according to the fair value hierarchy of the inputs utilized by us to determine the fair values as of March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015.

We have elected to offset the fair value amounts recognized for multiple similar derivative contracts executed with the same counterparty, including any related cash collateral assets or obligations as shown below; however, fair value amounts by hierarchy level are presented in the tables below on a gross basis. We have no derivative contracts that are subject to master netting arrangements that are reflected gross on the balance sheet.



	March 31, 2016
							Total Gross Fair Value		Effect of Counter- party Netting			Effect of Cash Collateral Netting			Net Carrying Value on Balance Sheet		Cash Collateral Paid or Received Not Offset
	Fair Value Hierarchy
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3
Assets:
Commodity derivative contracts	$	702	$	17	$	—	$	719	$	(681	)	$	(21	)	$	17	$	—
Investments of certain benefit plans	61		—		11		72		n/a			n/a			72		n/a
Total	$	763	$	17	$	11	$	791	$	(681	)	$	(21	)	$	89

Liabilities:
Commodity derivative contracts	$	722	$	18	$	—	$	740	$	(681	)	$	(59	)	$	—	$	(120	)
Environmental credit obligations	—		20		—		20		n/a			n/a			20		n/a
Physical purchase contracts	—		5		—		5		n/a			n/a			5		n/a
Foreign currency contracts	3		—		—		3		n/a			n/a			3		n/a
Total	$	725	$	43	$	—	$	768	$	(681	)	$	(59	)	$	28



	December 31, 2015
							Total Gross Fair Value		Effect of Counter- party Netting			Effect of Cash Collateral Netting			Net Carrying Value on Balance Sheet		Cash Collateral Paid or Received Not Offset
	Fair Value Hierarchy
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3
Assets:
Commodity derivative contracts	$	649	$	33	$	—	$	682	$	(557	)	$	(12	)	$	113	$	—
Foreign currency contracts	3		—		—		3		n/a			n/a			3		n/a
Investments of certain benefit plans	64		—		11		75		n/a			n/a			75		n/a
Total	$	716	$	33	$	11	$	760	$	(557	)	$	(12	)	$	191

Liabilities:
Commodity derivative contracts	$	522	$	35	$	—	$	557	$	(557	)	$	—		$	—	$	(31	)
Environmental credit obligations	—		2		—		2		n/a			n/a			2		n/a
Physical purchase contracts	—		6		—		6		n/a			n/a			6		n/a
Total	$	522	$	43	$	—	$	565	$	(557	)	$	—		$	8

A description of our assets and liabilities recognized at fair value along with the valuation methods and inputs we used to develop their fair value measurements are as follows:

•

Commodity derivative contracts consist primarily of exchange-traded futures and swaps, and as disclosed in Note 12, some of these contracts are designated as hedging instruments. These contracts are measured at fair value using the market approach. Exchange-traded futures are valued based on quoted prices from the exchange and are categorized in Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy. Swaps are priced using third-party broker quotes, industry pricing services, and exchange-traded curves, with appropriate consideration of counterparty credit risk, but because they have contractual terms that are not identical to exchange-traded futures instruments with a comparable market price, these financial instruments are categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.


•	Physical purchase contracts represent the fair value of fixed-price corn purchase contracts. The fair values of these purchase contracts are measured using a market approach based on quoted prices from the commodity exchange or an independent pricing service and are categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

•

Investments of certain benefit plans consist of investment securities held by trusts for the purpose of satisfying a portion of our obligations under certain U.S. nonqualified benefit plans. The assets categorized in Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy are measured at fair value using a market approach based on quoted prices from national securities exchanges. The assets categorized in Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy represent insurance contracts, the fair value of which is provided by the insurer.

•

Foreign currency contracts consist of foreign currency exchange and purchase contracts entered into for our international operations to manage our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations on transactions denominated in currencies other than the local (functional) currencies of those operations. These contracts are valued based on quoted prices from the exchange and are categorized in Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy.

•

Environmental credit obligations represent our liability for the purchase of (i) biofuel credits (primarily Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) in the U.S.) needed to satisfy our obligation to blend biofuels into the products we produce and (ii) emission credits under the California Global Warming Solutions Act (the California cap-and-trade system, also known as AB 32) and Quebec’s Regulation respecting the cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emission allowances (the Quebec cap-and-trade system), (collectively, the cap-and-trade systems). To the degree we are unable to blend biofuels (such as ethanol and biodiesel) at percentages required under the biofuel programs, we must purchase biofuel credits to comply with these programs. Under the cap-and-trade systems, we must purchase emission credits to comply with these systems. These programs are further described in Note 12 under “Environmental Compliance Program Price Risk.” The liability for environmental credits is based on our deficit for such credits as of the balance sheet date, if any, after considering any credits acquired or under contract, and is equal to the product of the credits deficit and the market price of these credits as of the balance sheet date. The environmental credit obligations are categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy and are measured at fair value using the market approach based on quoted prices from an independent pricing service.

There were no transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 for assets and liabilities held as of March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015 that were measured at fair value on a recurring basis.

There was no activity during the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015 related to the fair value amounts categorized in Level 3 as of March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015.

Nonrecurring Fair Value Measurements

There were no assets or liabilities that were measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis as of March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015.

Other Financial Instruments

Financial instruments that we recognize in our balance sheets at their carrying amounts are shown in the table below along with their associated fair values (in millions):



	March 31, 2016				December 31, 2015
	Carrying Amount		Fair Value		Carrying Amount		Fair Value
Financial assets:
Cash and temporary cash investments	$	3,778	$	3,778	$	4,114	$	4,114
Financial liabilities:
Debt (excluding capital leases)	7,252		8,005		7,292		7,759

The methods and significant assumptions used to estimate the fair value of these financial instruments are as follows:


•	The fair value of cash and temporary cash investments approximates the carrying value due to the low level of credit risk of these assets combined with their short maturities and market interest rates (Level 1).


•	The fair value of debt is determined primarily using the market approach based on quoted prices provided by third-party brokers and vendor pricing services (Level 2).