US ethanol production hit 954,000 b/d in the week that ended Friday, the highest level on record, and a 24,000 b/d week-on-week rise, data released by the US Energy Information Administration showed Wednesday.
The previous high of 939,000 b/d was set in December 2010. The total for the most recent week was also up 15,000 b/d compared with the same week a year earlier, the data showed.
US fuel ethanol stocks totaled 17.9 million barrels in the week that ended Friday, an increase of 854,000 barrels compared with a week earlier, the agency said.
The stock increase was largely based upon a rise in Gulf Coast totals, which jumped from 3.1 millions barrels in the week that ended November 25 to 3.7 million barrels on Friday, the EIA said.
Refiner and blender net production of gasoline with ethanol fell last week, suggesting demand for ethanol was lower. Net production of reformulated gasoline with ethanol totaled 2.846 million b/d in the most recent week, down from 2.983 million b/d in the prior week.
Net production of conventional gasoline with ethanol edged up 241,000 b/d to 5.181 million b/d, although this is still below the all-time high 5.307 million b/d posted in mid-August, the peak demand season.
The EIA reported 12,000 barrels of fuel ethanol imports for the most recent week, down 1,000 barrels from 13,000 barrels of imports on the previous week, but up from zero imports in the year-ago period.
