In the summer of 2022 (June—August), the price of fuel ethanol was lower than the price of the petroleum component of gasoline, which led to record-high fuel ethanol levels (blend rates) in gasoline sold in the United States, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

In addition, on 29 April 2022, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an emergency fuel waiver to allow E15 gasoline, which is a gasoline blend of 15% fuel ethanol, to be sold during the summer driving season in all regions of the United States. (Earlier post.) Without the waiver, E15 cannot be sold during the summer at retail stations in areas that do not have a reformulated gasoline (RFG) program—which is about two-thirds of the country.

Most gasoline sold in the United States is E10 gasoline, a gasoline blend of 10% fuel ethanol, so the average blend rate is close to 10% as well. Other ethanol blends include E15, E85 (a blend that contains between 51% and 83% fuel ethanol), and E0 (gasoline without any ethanol). Since 2016, the average annual fuel ethanol blend rate has exceeded 10%, reaching as high as 10.3% in 2021, because of increased sales of higher ethanol blends.

The fuel ethanol blend rate, based on EIA data going back to 2007, established a new record summer average of 10.5% in 2022. The blend rate averaged 10.6% in June and August—the second- and third-highest monthly summer blend rates on record, behind only June 2020—and averaged 10.3% in July.

Last year, the average summer blend rate was 10.3%. In 2020, the EPA also issued a summertime E15 fuel waiver, bringing the average summer blend rate to 10.4%. The summer blend rate was 10.0% in 2019 and 10.1% in 2018, and it averaged lower percentages in all previous years.

In response to the high blend rate this summer, EIA raised its forecast for the average 2022 fuel ethanol blend rate from 10.3% to a record 10.4% in the November Short-Term Energy Outlook. Although the blend rate fluctuates monthly, the annual average blend rate has been consistent from year to year, slowly increasing over time and generally increasing at the end of the year.