Ethanol May Face Summer Setbacks

WASHINGTON -- After a spurt of good fortune, trouble may be looming for the U.S. ethanol industry, which may experience some growing pains and unwanted attention this summer, according to the Associated Press.

Ethanol's public profile rose significantly for the better last July, when Congress passed an energy bill that mandates the doubling of biofuels output by 2012. In January, President Bush gave the industry a further boost with a strong endorsement in his State of the Union speech. And with the imminent phaseout of a petrochemical added to gasoline to reduce tailpipe emissions, more U.S. motorists will depend on the corn-derived fuel than ever before, according to the report.

However, the ethanol industry might not be ready to satisfy the expected summertime jump in demand. And crimping the overall supply of motor fuel could contribute to a spike in gasoline prices at the start of the nation's peak driving season, according to AP.

That is the view of the Energy Department, which issued a report last month detailing the challenges midwestern ethanol producers will have in getting their fuel to key markets along the East Coast because of railroad, trucking and other distribution bottlenecks. The report also highlighted concerns about the limited output capacity of an industry still in its infancy.

The Renewable Fuels Association, a trade group representing ethanol producers, says the industry's challenges and their influence on gasoline prices are being overblown. The association sent an angry letter to the Energy Department last week, questioning the overall thoroughness of its research and accusing it of creating "unnecessary fears in the marketplace," reported AP.

Still, ethanol-related worries hang over the U.S. market, contributing to a 42-cent-per-gallon increase in unleaded gasoline futures since mid-February. There are other factors behind the recent wholesale gasoline price spike, including soaring oil prices, strong demand and persistent strains on the U.S. refining system.

The average retail price of gasoline in the United States is $2.51 per gallon -- the highest level since October -- and some analysts say $3 is a possibility by summer.

Wholesale prices for ethanol, meanwhile, have surged to roughly $2.75 a gallon, or about 50 cents per gallon higher than usual, according to the Oil Price Information Service of Wall, N.J. Because ethanol makes up one-tenth of every gallon of unleaded gasoline with which it is blended, this windfall for ethanol producers ends up costing motorists an extra 5 cents per gallon at the pump.

High prices will spur more ethanol production -- there are 33 new plants under construction -- but some minor near-term complications can be expected due to the rapid increase in demand, Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association and the author of the letter sent to the Energy Department, told AP.

Dinneen said in the report the industry is taking steps to mitigate the problems, such as filling ethanol storage tanks on the East Coast before summer arrives and contracting barges that can ship ethanol down the Mississippi River and then up the Atlantic seaboard.

The MTBE Question

Energy analysts told AP it is unclear whether ethanol producers can manufacture and distribute enough supply once U.S. refiners phase out the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, which enables gasoline to burn more completely, and thus more cleanly, but carries some public health risks.

California, New York and Connecticut have banned MTBE in recent years, but consumers from Virginia to New Hampshire, as well as in Texas, still depend on it.

MTBE, a natural gas derivative, has been the oxygenate of choice since the mandate was established roughly 10 years ago as a byproduct of the Clean Air Act.

But MTBE also has been found to contaminate drinking water supplies and it may cause cancer, exposing the petroleum industry to lawsuits filed by water districts and municipalities on behalf of their citizens. After Congress refused to grant the industry protection from such lawsuits, refiners made clear their intention to stop using MTBE, according to AP.

Valero Energy Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Shell Oil Co., the U.S. subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, all plan to cease using MTBE in gasoline by May 5, spokespersons for the companies said in the report.

Valero, the country's largest independent refiner, estimates the country's total gasoline supply will shrink by 145,000 barrels per day, or about 1.5 percent, once MTBE is removed -- a transition expected to be complete by May 5. That is when an obscure provision of the energy bill goes into effect, eliminating the need for a so-called oxygenate in gasoline.

Now it is up to ethanol producers to bridge the gap. While U.S. ethanol producers have the capacity to produce roughly 4.3 billion gallons -- or 280,000 barrels per day -- in 2006, the near-term crunch means more imports will be needed from Brazil, Dinneen told AP. The United States imported more than 150 million gallons of ethanol in 2005.