Later in Wednesday's American Petroleum Instiute's conference call for bloggers, the topic of ethanol came up quite a few times. Needless to say, the API are not big fans of the renewable fuel boosters.
The API speakers expressed concern about legislation dictating the amount of biofuels used in gasoline and other transportation fuels, rather than market forces, since a mandate could lead to using less attractive, more expensive components just because they are "renewable".
The speakers took issue with claims from some unnamed ethanol fans that ethanol actually produces energy more efficiently than does gasoline.
One interesting side note that wasn't raised before time ran out was the issue of ethanol being cheaper than gasoline right now, which should lead blenders to mix ethanol into conventional gasoline as well as reformulated grades. The Barrel will explore the ramifications of that at a later date.
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