Q&A Why Is the Summer Blend of Fuel Already in Use?
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Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio Why would the summer blend gas already be pushed out? Seems like an excuse to drive prices higher.
Bottom Line: The switching of fuel blends from the less expensive “winter blend” of fuel to the more expensive “summer blend” of fuel is an annual event, although it’s often one that goes unnoticed. Not this year. On Monday we had a confluence of events that led to more people taking notice of the annual switch of fuel blends in Florida and there are probably a couple of reasons for that being the case – starting with where prices were just prior to the switch.
By the end of the day on Sunday gas prices had dropped to the lowest price that we’d seen since December of 2023 – to a price that averaged below $3 per gallon for regular unleaded. That $3 threshold was another number that probably attracted additional attention when prices immediately bumped higher once again and that’s what happened on Monday when prices surged higher by 13 cents per gallon. The reason? It was the start of the changing fuel season as the conversion to the so called “summer blend” of fuel has begun. Let’s start there with what the summer blend of fuel actually is.
In the Clean Air Act of 1990, the EPA was granted the authority to impose regulations on the gasoline industry aimed at reducing air pollution. In 1995, the EPA mandate for a summer blend of fuel began. Without getting too far into the weeds of what goes on with different blends of fuel, the bottom line is this. Butane is the key for gasoline volatility. Butane, which is an odorless gas that’s used as a propellant in all sorts of products from aerosol cans to plastics and solvents. In the winter months more butane in gasoline is viewed as a good thing as it can aid in helping cars to start during especially cold weather. In summer however, it’s seen as a key contributor to smog and overall air pollution in urban areas.
What’s known as the RVP, or Reid Vapor Pressure, is what’s used by the EPA to issue its gasoline mandates. The RVP measures how easily gasoline evaporates at high temperatures. When the weather is hotter the highest volatility fuels evaporate more quickly which can lead to ground smog as the vapor often doesn’t make it into the atmosphere. Butane is the most volatile gas that’s used in automotive fuels – so that’s the one that’s tweaked the most between the winter and summer blends of fuels.
But to the point of today’s question, why if it’s called a summer blend of fuel, are we starting to see the impact of it in early spring? Well...it’s a process for refineries to make the switch from the winter blend of fuel to the summer blend of fuel. Refineries have to be taken offline for a matter of time to reformulate the fuel that they’re using. When less butane is used a different mix of hydrocarbons that are less volatile are introduced into the fuel. The refiners have to adapt their equipment to make this switch. The average length of time it takes a refinery to make the move is about three weeks. The EPA mandates that all refineries are ready for the switch to the summer blend of fuel by May 1st with the mandate for all gasoline in use by June 1st.
Obviously, it’d be a bad thing if all refineries went offline at the same time to make the change so there’s a staggered approach. You can think of it as like a rolling blackout of refineries. In order to meet the timelines, refineries begin to go offline as early as February. That process begins to add to the cost of gasoline almost immediately as supply chains are disrupted. And then there’s the added cost of manufacturing the fuel. On average the switch adds 10 to 15 cents per gallon to the cost of fuel (I’ve historically pegged the average increase for Florida’s fuel supply at 12 cents). What we saw on Monday was right in line with what we typically see.
It just so happened to be that this was the week that the tweaks to our fuel began to be felt across the state which just so happened to coincide with the lowest prices we’d had in quite some time. So, there you go with perhaps a bit more than you’d previously known about why we have different blends of fuel and how it impacts you.