HAVE A GREAT THURSDAY READERS!

WOW, the temperature will be in the high 30's north of the Lake tomorrow morning! Talk about a change.........

Well, I guess everyone has heard the news about the "alleged" suspension of three LSU players for the Auburn game Saturday. It is alleged that Spencer Ware (#11 - Running back), Tyrann Mathieu (#7 - Corner back - aka "The Honey Badger") and another linebacker will be suspended for failing a drug test (synthetic marijuana?). In his Wednesday news conference, Coach Les Miles would not confirm this story. He did indicate there may have been a rule infraction by a few players and he was still investigating the situation. Stay tuned......

Back to ethanol..........I found this interesting graph today about the price of ethanol by State:

Daily Ethanol Rack Prices

State	Today's Avg.	Change
Alabama	3.0015	-0.0027
Arkansas	2.9434	0.0084
Colorado	2.9020	0.0000
Florida	3.1100	0.0100
Georgia	3.1088	-0.0190
Iowa	2.8319	0.0079
Idaho	2.9205	-0.0297
Illinois	2.9224	0.0027
Indiana	2.8778	-0.0018
Kentucky	2.9200	0.0700
Kansas	2.8381	0.0080
Louisiana	3.0000	0.0000
Michigan	2.8800	0.1785
Minnesota	2.8791	0.0130
Missouri	2.9160	0.0024
Mississippi	2.9128	-0.0050
Montana	2.8892	0.0057
North Carolina	3.1025	-0.0083
North Dakota	2.8602	0.0017
Nebraska	2.8275	0.0037
Ohio	2.8736	0.1351
Oklahoma	2.9060	-0.0011
Oregon	2.8215	0.0000
South Carolina	3.0763	0.0035
South Dakota	2.8632	0.0075
Tennessee	3.1250	-0.0150
Texas	3.1020	0.0006
Virginia	3.1550	-0.0150
Washington	2.9298	0.0000
Wisconsin	2.9329	0.0173
Wyoming	2.9007	0.0000
Average Price	2.9461	0.0122
Previous Average Price	2.9339

Wed, Oct 19, 2011 11:31 PM CDT

Notice that the average price of ethanol is about $3/gallon. That means that if you blend 10% ethanol gasoline, the cost of ethanol for a gallon of "E-10" is about $0.30. When you consider that refineries are getting $0.45/gallon tax credit, they are making out "like a bandit". However, when they lose their "Golden Goose" tax credit on 1/1/2012, they will now be "in the red" to blend it appears by this calculation. The thing I don't know however, is how much would it cost the refinery to make high octane blending components to make ethanol free gas to offset the 113 octane rating of ethanol.

I'm still trying to determine if the economics will favor refineries to continue blending ALL of their gasoline as ethanol gas in 2012 after they lose their $0.45/gallon tax credit. This may determine what their operating philosophy is next year without the tax credit.

"Pete" Landry.........comments welcome at.........way2gopete@yahoo.com