Ethanol production drops 6.1% in second largest weekly downturn since stats reported
In Washington, D.C., according to EIA data analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association for the week ending Sept. 20, ethanol production swung sharply lower, dropping 61,000 b/d or 6.1% (the second-largest weekly downturn since statistics have been reported) to 943,000 barrels per day (b/d)—equivalent to 39.61 million gallons daily. This represents the smallest production rate since April 2016, with output 9.0% below year-ago volumes and 5.3% below the same week two years ago. The four-week average ethanol production rate slowed 2.3% to a 24-week low of 996,000 b/d, equivalent to an annualized rate of 15.27 billion gallons.
Ethanol stocks scaled back 3.2% to 22.5 million barrels. Stocks fell across all PADDs except the Gulf Coast (PADD 3).
Imports of ethanol into the West Coast were a near-record 113,000 b/d, or 33.22 million gallons for the week—equivalent to more than 10% of the total ethanol supplied for the week. This was the fourth time in five weeks that ethanol was imported. (Weekly export data for ethanol is not reported simultaneously; the latest export data is as of July 2019.)
The volume of gasoline supplied rebounded from the prior week’s slump, increasing 4.6% to 9.346 million b/d (392.5 million gallons per day, or 143.27 bg annualized). Refiner/blender net inputs of ethanol rose 3.3% to 935,000 b/d, equivalent to 14.33 bg annualized. Expressed as a percentage of daily gasoline demand, daily ethanol production shrank to a two-year low of 10.09%.
Category: Fuels