US ethanol stocks for the reporting week that ended Friday were on a three-week climb to a month-high of 21.508 million barrels, even as ethanol production dipped to a three-week low of 902,000 b/d, according to weekly data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration.
Ethanol stocks gained 110,000 barrels from the previous week on builds in the East Coast, Midwest, and Gulf Coast, where stocks all rose for the third straight week.
East Coast stocks moved up 12,000 barrels to a month-high of 8.334 million barrels, while Midwest stocks jumped 59,000 barrels to a three-week high of 6.72 million barrels. Gulf Coast stocks increased 133,000 barrels to 3.796 million barrels, the highest level since the reporting week ended February 17, when they were at 4.018 million barrels.
Stocks in the Rocky Mountain region and West Coast, however, fell, with Rocky Mountain stocks on a four-week decline and West Coast stocks on a three-week decline.
Rocky Mountain stocks edged down 12,000 barrels to 258,000 barrels, the lowest level since the reporting week ended January 20, when they were at 254,000 barrels. West Coast stocks shrank 81,000 barrels to a seven-week low of 2.482 million barrels.
With lower production and higher stocks, the ethanol days of supply increased 0.5 day to 23.8 days of supply, a three-week high. Days of supply are calculated by dividing weekly ethanol stock levels by weekly production.
The amount of gasoline blended with ethanol soared 155,000 b/d, to a record-high 8.586 million b/d as the overall amount of gasoline produced jumped 208,000 b/d to 9.153 million b/d, the highest level so far in 2012.
Although the amount of gasoline blended with ethanol was at a record-high, the jump in the overall amount of gasoline produced caused the ethanol blending percentage to ease 0.5 percentage point off the previous week's all-time high of 94.3%, to 93.8% in the latest reported week.
The amount of gasoline blended with ethanol is calculated by adding the volumes of reformulated gasoline blended with ethanol and conventional gasoline blended with ethanol. The ethanol blending percentage is calculated by dividing the weekly amount of gasoline blended with ethanol by weekly total gasoline production.
The four-week rolling average of motor gasoline demand climbed for the fourth consecutive week as it rose 60,000 b/d to 8.85 million b/d. While this was a new high for 2012, last year at this time, gasoline demand was 233,000 b/d higher at 9.083 million b/d, and year-to-date, 2012 levels trail those of 2011 by 5.5%.
The ascent of motor gasoline demand this year could be a boon to an ethanol industry that is looking for increased demand to alleviate high inventory levels, sources said.
