The US ethanol blending percentage has dipped 3.7 percentage points to 90.1% for the reporting week that ended Friday, June 1, the lowest level since the reporting week ended January 13, as ethanol stocks shrank 320,000 barrels to a three-week low of 21.188 million barrels, according to weekly data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration.
The drop in the blending percentage resulted from a five-week low for the amount of gasoline blended with ethanol, which slumped 454,000 b/d to 8.162 million b/d. The overall amount of gasoline produced edged down 97,000 b/d, to 9.056 million b/d.
The amount of gasoline blended with ethanol is calculated by adding the volume 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 draw in US ethanol stocks was on lower inventories in all US regions except for the Rocky Mountain region. East Coast stocks decreased 109,000 barrels to a three-week low of 8.225 million barrels, while Midwest stocks sank 144,000 barrels to 6.576 million barrels, the lowest level since the reporting week ended January 20, when it was 6.316 million barrels.
West Coast stocks declined for the fourth straight week, down 27,000 barrels to a two-month low of 2.374 million barrels.
Ethanol stocks in the Rocky Mountain region, however, increased 26,000 barrels to a month-high of 284,000 barrels.
Although weekly ethanol production edged up 2,000 b/d to 904,000 b/d in the latest reported week, the ethanol days of supply dropped 0.4 day to 23.4 days of supply on the lower stocks. Days of supply are calculated by dividing weekly ethanol stock levels by weekly production.
The four-week rolling average of motor gasoline demand decreased 54,000 b/d to 8.796 million b/d, or 4.2% below where it was at this time last year, when it was at 9.167 million b/d. Year-to-date levels trail the comperable 2011 period by 5.4%.
The weaker ethanol blending percentage and gasoline demand figures were seen as a detriment to ethanol demand, sources said, but the lower inventory levels could help ease an over-supplied ethanol market.
