EIA: US ethanol blending reaches a new high during summer 2022

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Fuel ethanol’s price discount to gasoline was one factor that led to the higher summer blend rate in 2022. Gasoline prices increased because of tight domestic inventories and constraints on refining capacity. Typically, E15 cannot be sold at retail stations during the summer in states that do not have an RFG program, a restriction that applies to about two-thirds of the country. This year, however, EPA issued an emergency fuel waiver to allow E15 gasoline to be sold during the summer in all regions of the United States. In response to the high fuel ethanol blend rate into gasoline this past summer, we raised our forecast for the average 2022 fuel ethanol blend rate from 10.3% to a record 10.4% in our November Short-Term Energy Outlook.

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