Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2023

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Major classes of property, plant and equipment, including finance lease assets, are summarized in the table below as of August 31, 2023 and 2022.


	2023		2022
	(Dollars in thousands)
Land and land improvements	$	350,703	$	334,085
Buildings	1,242,913		1,192,571
Machinery and equipment	7,979,164		7,819,152
Office equipment and other	498,430		496,121
Construction in progress	630,542		339,043
Gross property, plant and equipment	10,701,752		10,180,972
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization	5,832,379		5,436,013
Total property, plant and equipment	$	4,869,373	$	4,744,959

Property, plant and equipment are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation and amortization. Depreciation and amortization are provided on the straight-line method by charges to operations at rates based on the expected useful lives of individual or groups of assets (generally 15 to 20 years for land improvements, 20 to 40 years for buildings, five to 20 years for machinery and equipment, and three to 10 years for office equipment and other). Expenditures for maintenance and minor repairs and renewals are expensed. We also capitalize and amortize eligible costs to acquire or develop internal-use software that are incurred during the application development stage. When assets are sold or otherwise disposed of, the cost and related accumulated depreciation and amortization are removed from the related accounts and resulting gains or losses are reflected in operations.

Depreciation expense, including amortization of finance lease assets, for the years ended August 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, was $457.9 million, $458.2 million and $455.9 million, respectively.

Property, plant and equipment and other long-lived assets are reviewed for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amounts may not be recoverable in accordance with U.S. GAAP. This evaluation of recoverability is based on various indicators, including the nature, future economic benefits and geographic locations of the assets, historical or future profitability measures and other external market conditions. If these indicators suggest the carrying amounts of an asset or asset group may not be recoverable, potential impairment is evaluated using undiscounted, estimated future cash flows. Should the sum of the expected future net cash flows be less than the carrying value, an impairment loss would be recognized. An impairment loss would be measured as the amount by which the carrying value of the asset or asset group exceeds its fair value. No significant impairments were identified during fiscal 2023, fiscal 2022 or fiscal 2021.

We have asset retirement obligations with respect to certain of our refineries and other assets due to various legal obligations to clean and/or dispose of the component parts at the time they are retired. In most cases, these assets can be used for extended and indeterminate periods of time if they are properly maintained and/or upgraded. It is our practice and current intent to maintain refineries and related assets and to continue making improvements to those assets based on technological advances. As a result, we believe our refineries and related assets have indeterminate lives for purposes of estimating asset retirement obligations because dates or ranges of dates upon which we would retire a refinery and related assets cannot reasonably be estimated at this time. When a date or range of dates can reasonably be estimated for the retirement of any component part of a refinery or other asset, we estimate the cost of performing the retirement activities and record a liability for the fair value of that future cost.

We have other assets that we may be obligated to dismantle at the end of corresponding lease terms subject to the lessor's discretion for which we have recorded asset retirement obligations. Based on our estimates of timing, cost and probability of removal, these obligations are not material.