US fuel ethanol supplies have biggest weekly build in history, EIA

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US faces an all time high in ethanol supplies and the biggest weekly build in ethanol history, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The report also highlighted an eight-year high in PADD 1 East Coast supplies, an almost seven-year low in weekly production rates and an all-time low in blender net input demand.

Fuel ethanol has come under pressure from the coronavirus (Covid-19) as more than half the US is on stay at home orders, limiting the amount the driving and consequently fuel demand.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced plans to protect the supply of gasoline in the US amid the coronavirus outbreak and waived the summer blending requirements.

The EPA said it will allow winter-grade gasoline, which has higher Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP), to be used longer than typically allowed.

This will pressure fuel ethanol demand as the driving season for gasoline blended with ethanol will come later, if at all.

This has also resulted in the shut down of several ethanol plants in the US.

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