The Energy Information Administration says ethanol output surged before last week while inventories shrank. Ethanol production increased to an average of 965,000 barrels a day in the week ending on March 26. That’s up from the 922,000 barrels produced daily during the previous week. The Midwest, by far the largest producing region, averaged 917,000 barrels per day, up from 876,000 a week earlier. Gulf Coast production jumped to an average of 18,000 barrels per day from 14,000 barrels. The East Coast ethanol output didn’t change from week to week, staying at an average of 12,000 barrels a day. Government data also shows West Coast production staying at 9,000 barrels. The Rocky Mountain region was the only one that saw its production drop, averaging around 9,000 barrels a day. In the meantime, U.S. stockpiles of ethanol dropped to 21.14 million barrels in the week ending on March 26. The Energy Information Administration says that’s down from 21.809 million a week earlier and the lowest since the seven days that ended on November 20.

Weekly ethanol production rises while inventories drop