London (Platts)--11Feb2013/803 am EST/1303 GMT
European fuel ethanol on Friday traded at a discount to gasoline for the first time since September 27 as it surged due to strengthening crude oil futures, according to Platts data. Spot ethanol barges in the port of Rotterdam traded at a marginal discount of 0.3% to non-oxygenated gasoline EBOB Friday, according to data shown in the Platts Market On Close pricing window. A negative ethanol-gasoline spread raises the incentive commercial fuel blenders have to mix incremental volumes of the biofuel into gasoline supplies. In most European countries, fuel ethanol is blended into conventional gasoline to meet national oxygenate requirements as well as national CO2 emissions standards. Article continues below...Sign up to Biofuelscan today. Platts Biofuelscan is a daily report, covering the latest worldwide biofuel news and prices. It provides a daily summary of market events and developments, along with closing market price assessments from the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Platts Biofuelscan includes prices assessmenst for ethanol, ETBE, renewal indentification number (RIN) biofuels (US market0 and biodiesel. It also includes graphs depicting historic and current trends for major assessments.
European fuel ethanol on Friday traded at a discount to gasoline for the first time since September 27 as it surged due to strengthening crude oil futures, according to Platts data. Spot ethanol barges in the port of Rotterdam traded at a marginal discount of 0.3% to non-oxygenated gasoline EBOB Friday, according to data shown in the Platts Market On Close pricing window. A negative ethanol-gasoline spread raises the incentive commercial fuel blenders have to mix incremental volumes of the biofuel into gasoline supplies. In most European countries, fuel ethanol is blended into conventional gasoline to meet national oxygenate requirements as well as national CO2 emissions standards.
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Platts Biofuelscan is a daily report, covering the latest worldwide biofuel news and prices. It provides a daily summary of market events and developments, along with closing market price assessments from the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Platts Biofuelscan includes prices assessmenst for ethanol, ETBE, renewal indentification number (RIN) biofuels (US market0 and biodiesel. It also includes graphs depicting historic and current trends for major assessments.
Front-month Brent crude oil futures lost ground in early trade Monday but were still above the $118/b level after hitting nine-month highs Friday as positive economic data from China and escalating tensions in the Middle East increased concerns over supply. EBOB gasoline rose to a close of $1,085/mt FOB ARA Friday, the highest level since October 11, Platts data show. In the meantime, fuel ethanol for gasoline blending stood at Eur638/cu m ($1,082.1/mt) FOB Rotterdam. Fuel ethanol remains the most competitive renewable fuel in Europe, trading at a discount of nearly 17% to ETBE and almost 12% below biodiesel FAME 0 Friday. In Europe, renewable fuels compete with each other under established national mandates. Even though biofuels mandates vary within European countries, the EU aims to have 10% of the total energy used in the transport sector replaced by renewable sources by 2020.--Guillherme Kfouri, guilherme_kfouri@platts.com--Edited by Jonathan Fox, jonathan_fox@platts.com
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