Biden to allow E15 ethanol-blended gas to be sold throughout the US this summer to counter soaring fuel prices

• Biden will allow sales of E15 ethanol-blended gas this summer, the White House said Tuesday.
• It said the move is aimed at counter soaring fuel prices which followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

President Joe Biden will allow E15 ethanol-blended gas to be sold throughout the US this summer, the White House said Tuesday, as part of measures to tackle soaring fuel prices in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

E15 gasoline, which is gasoline blended with 15% ethanol, is banned in most of the US during the summer because of air pollution concerns. But the White House said that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to issue a national emergency waiver which would allow E15 to be sold between June 1 and September 15.

The White House said that E15 is on average $0.10 per gallon cheaper than other gas. Using more E15 would bring down prices and reduce dependency on foreign fuels, it said in a press release.

The US banned imports of oil and natural gas from Russia on March 8, causing global oil and petroleum product prices to rocket.

As of Tuesday, gasoline cost on average $4.098 per gallon in the US, according to the AAA. Prices have retreated from a peak of $4.331 reached on March 11, but still remain considerably higher than this time last year.

"An emergency waiver can help increase fuel supplies, give consumers more choice to get lower prices, and provide savings to many families," the White House said, adding that the EPA would work with states to ensure there are no significant air quality impacts.

But Lenny Rodriguez, an oil analyst at S&P Global, said that the slightly lower energy content of E15 means that "motorists will see lower mileage per gallon than usual and might end up needing to fill up their tanks more frequently."

The White House said that E15 is currently offered at 2,300 gas stations in the country, though S&P Global noted that these are mostly located in the Midwest. E10 gasoline, which has a lower concentration of ethanol, is more widely available, and throughout the year, according to S&P Global.

"We obviously expect an uptick in E15 sales this summer due to greater overall gasoline consumption, greater availability of E15, and E15 selling at a discount to E10 at the pump," Corey Lavinsky, global manager of biofuels analytics at S&P Global Commodity Insights, said.

But he noted that the additional ethanol volumes sold during the summer if the waiver is implemented "should be relatively small, roughly 25 million gallons."