US ethanol production fell by 30,000 b/d, to 841,000 b/d the week ended September 23, its lowest level in one year, Energy Information Administration data released Wednesday showed.
US ethanol production last week was just 16,000 b/d above the 825,000 b/d figure reported for the week ended September 24, 2010.
Production has fallen from 908,000 b/d in early August, on lower demand for gasoline blending. Production typically declines around September in response to refinery maintenance shutdowns in the fall, one market source said. "Plants do it [maintenance] before it gets too cold," he said.
US net production of reformulated gasoline with ethanol declined by 15,000 b/d, to 3.026 million b/d last week, EIA data showed. That was down from 3.1 million b/d during the peak of the driving season in early August.
US gasoline demand has been soft this year. On a four-week moving average, demand, at 8.907 million b/d last week, was down from 8.973 million b/d the prior week, and down from 9.128 million b/d the same week in 2010.
US ethanol stocks, meanwhile, climbed by 270,000 barrels last week, to 17.358 million barrels, with a 269,000-barrel increase on the US Gulf Coast and 165,000-barrel increase on the US West Coast outweighing a 203,000-barrel drop in the Midwest.
