US Midwest ethanol stocks for the reporting week ended January 3 rose 249,000 barrels to 5.992 million barrels, the highest level in more than eight months, Energy Information Administration data showed Wednesday.
Specifically, US Midwest ethanol stocks were on a four-week climb to the highest level since the reporting week ended April 26, when they were at 6.216 million barrels.
Overall US ethanol stocks also increased, growing 556,000 barrels to 16.138 million barrels, as there were stock builds in every region except the East Coast. This was the highest overall US ethanol stocks level in almost four months as they had not been this high since being reported at 16.178 million barrels in the reporting week ended September 13.
Gulf Coast ethanol stocks gained 113,000 barrels to a five-week high of 2.903 million barrels as ethanol stocks in the Rocky Mountain region edged up 10,000 barrels to a four-week high of 313,000 barrels. West Coast ethanol stocks jumped 253,000 barrels to a 10-week high of 2.029 million barrels.
East Coast ethanol stocks, on the other hand, were on a three-week decline, shrinking 71,000 barrels to a five-week low of 4.901 million barrels.
Weekly ethanol production reversed course after a three-week slide, nudging up 6,000 b/d to 919,000 b/d.
There were again no ethanol imports reported for the 14th reporting week in a row.
The weekly refiner and blender net ethanol input plummeted 52,000 b/d to 756,000 b/d, the lowest level in one year as it had not been this low since the reporting week ended January 4, 2013, when it was at 714,000 b/d.
As the weekly refiner and blender net ethanol input decreased while weekly ethanol stocks increased, the ethanol days of supply -- calculated by dividing weekly ethanol stock levels by the weekly refiner and blender ethanol net input -- jumped two days to 21.3 days of supply, the highest level since the reporting week ended September 6, when it was at 19.5 days of supply.
In other supply data, the weekly overall amount of gasoline produced moved up 42,000 b/d to 9.12 million b/d. The weekly amount of gasoline blended with ethanol, however, plunged 539,000 b/d to 7.522 million b/d, the lowest level in one year. It had not been this low since the reporting week ended January 4, 2013, when it was at 7.085 million barrels.
As the weekly overall amount of gasoline blended with ethanol fell while the amount of gasoline produced rose, the weekly ethanol blending percentage shed 6.3 percentage points to 82.5%, the lowest level in a little more than three years as it had not been this low since the reporting week ended December 31, 2010, when it was at 81.9%.
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.