Gasoline Price Inflated by Ethanol in Oil Boom: Energy Markets
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Even as the U.S. produces more oil than at any time since 1992, gasoline remains a dollar higher than the average for the past decade in part because of George W. Bush-era rules that attach a 38-digit Renewable Identification Number to every gallon of ethanol.
Gasoline prices at service stations have risen an average 12 percent this year even as benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.7 percent. Part of the reason is the 10-fold increase in the cost of credits that refiners from Valero Energy Corp. to Marathon Petroleum Corp. must buy to comply with the 2007 law designed to boost ethanol consumption.