Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:01pm IST
By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. demand for crude oil and petroleum products increased 3.5 percent in March from a year ago, as gasoline demand hit a record for the month and gasoline production reached an all-time high, the American Petroleum Institute said on Friday.
March's total petroleum deliveries, excluding exports, averaged 19.333 million barrels per day, up 661,000 bpd from a year ago, according to API's monthly supply and demand report.
U.S. gasoline demand jumped 3.8 percent to a March record of 9.2 million bpd and gasoline production soared 7.5 percent to an all-time high of 9.318 million bpd, the API said.
"The record gasoline production in March makes it abundantly clear that supply is not an issue with the higher gasoline prices we've seen," said API Chief Economist John Felmy. "Sharply higher crude oil prices are driving that, and they continue to put upward pressure on the price at the pump."
The average retail price for gasoline increased to $2.86 a gallon this week, the highest level since October 2008, according to the Energy Department.
Deliveries of distillate fuels, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell 0.8 percent to 3.703 million bpd, reflecting a still weak economy as trucks transporting goods run on diesel. "Distillate deliveries correlate closely with overall U.S. economic activity," Felmy said.
Jet fuel demand in March increased 0.5 percent to 1.448 million bpd, while residual fuel use fell 1.8 percent to 594,000 bpd.
Deliveries, which are a good indicator of demand, are calculated by API to reflect petroleum products moved from refineries and bulk storage to wholesale and retail suppliers.
API's U.S. petroleum demand figure for March is 1.2 percent higher than the U.S. Energy Information Administration's preliminary estimate of 19.109 million bpd for the month.
On the supply side, crude oil and petroleum product imports averaged 11.202 million bpd in March, down 8.6 percent from a year ago.
Total imports in March accounted for 57.9 percent of U.S. oil demand, way down from 65.6 percent a year earlier.
U.S. crude oil production increased 1.1 percent to top 5.5 million bpd for the second month in a row.
The following summarizes key data from API's monthly
report:
U.S. DELIVERIES, IMPORTS, PRODUCTION
(million bpd)
Mar Feb Mar Year Ago Jan-Mar YTD Pct
2010 2009 2009 Pct Change 2010 Change DELIVERIES Gasoline 9.200 9.012 8.866 3.8 8.909 1.4 RFG 2.987 2.942 2.995 -0.3 2.964 -1.4 Kerosene/jet 1.448 1.285 1.441 0.5 1.369 -0.9 Distillate 3.703 3.681 3.732 -0.8 3.680 -5.8 Residual 0.594 0.650 0.605 -1.8 0.621 2.3 Other oils 4.436 4.267 4.183 6.1 4.352 4.8 Deliveries 19.333 18.823 18.672 3.5 18.897 0.3 Exports 1.973 2.003 1.838 7.4 1.951 4.7 Total 21.306 20.826 20.510 3.9 20.848 0.7 IMPORTS Crude oil 9.110 8.934 9.219 -1.2 8.829 -6.4 Oil products 2.092 2.443 3.033 -31.0 2.439 -21.8 Total 11.202 11.377 12.253 -8.6 11.268 -10.2 PRODUCTION Crude 5.532 5.514 5.472 1.1 5.497 3.5 Gasoline 9.318 8.847 8.668 7.5 NA NA Distillate 3.787 3.596 3.937 -3.8 NA NA Kerosene/jet 1.420 1.277 1.372 3.5 NA NA Residual 0.513 0.576 0.584 -12.1 NA NA (Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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