Ethanol Lowers Gas Prices!
Posted: February 15, 2008
From our friends in Illinois:
Just as it begins to appear everyone is piling on and taking a cheap shot at the benefits of ethanol, a media heavy hitter unleashed this earth shaking bit of news…increased ethanol use cuts our dependence on foreign oil.
“While debates heat up on whether ethanol will ever be “green,” one aspect of the alternative fuel is becoming clearer: explosive production is stifling an established driver of oil markets — U.S. gasoline demand — and could lead to lower prices at the pump,” according to a Reuters story out today.
Monthly U.S. ethanol output through November 2007, the last data available, averaged nearly 12.7 million barrels, or 64 percent higher than average monthly production in 2005, according to the Energy Information Administration, the statistics arm of the Department of Energy.
Ethanol production this year is expected to rise 130,000 barrels per day — or the amount of gasoline a medium-sized oil refinery puts out — to 550,000 bpd, according to the EIA. However, production is anticipated to reach 9 billion gallons in 2008 with plenty of growth potential waiting in the wings for the right market signals.
