US ethanol production fell by 2,000 barrels to 959,000 b/d for the week ending January 29, Energy Information Administration data showed Wednesday.
Total stockpiles surged to the highest level since April 27, 2012, as they climbed 926,000 barrels to 22.362 million barrels.
Gulf Coast stocks led the upward charge with a 632,000-barrel rise to 4.311 million barrels. East Coast stocks saw the second-highest increase as they rose 220,000 barrels to 7.724 million barrels, an eight-month high.
Midwest stocks swelled to 7.101 million barrels, a 76,000-barrel upswing, bringing that region's stocks to a 10-month high. West Coast stocks saw the smallest rise with a 13,000-barrel build to 2.884 million barrels. Rocky Mountain stocks experienced the only decline as they fell 15,000 barrels to 342,000 barrels.
The four-week rolling average of gasoline demand rose by 45,000 b/d to 8.715 million b/d, while the four-week rolling average of the refiner and blender net ethanol input rose by 7,000 b/d to 836,000 b/d. The weekly refiner and blender net ethanol input fell 50,000 b/d to 815,000 b/d.
The four-week rolling average of the ethanol blending rate -- calculated by dividing the four-week rolling averages of the net ethanol input and gasoline demand -- rose 0.03 percentage point to 9.56%, .41 point below the "blend wall."
The blend wall occurs when the maximum amount of the US gasoline pool has been blended to a level of 10% ethanol.
