Ethanol production up with highest percentage of daily gasoline demand in 27 weeks

In Washington, D.C., the Renewable Fuels Association reports that according to EIA data, ethanol production averaged 1.060 million barrels per day (b/d)—or 44.52 million gallons daily. That is up 17,000 b/d from the week before and just a hair below the record weekly output of 1.061 million b/d set in late January. The four-week average for ethanol production increased to a thirty-week high of 1.053 b/d for an annualized rate of 16.14 billion gallons. Stocks of ethanol were 21.1 million barrels. That is a 0.9% decrease from last week and a five-week low. It also is the third straight weekly draw. There were zero imports recorded for the third week in a row.

Average weekly gasoline demand slumped 6.9% to an 18-week low of 384.8 million gallons (9.163 million barrels) daily, likely reflecting the initial impacts of Hurricane Harvey. This is equivalent to 140.5 gallons annualized. Refiner/blender input of ethanol decreased 3.5% to 923,000 b/d, equivalent to 14.15 billion gallons annualized. Accordingly, the implied average ethanol blend rate last week was 10.07%. Expressed as a percentage of daily gasoline demand, daily ethanol production increased to 11.57%–the highest in 27 weeks.