Gasoline deliveries, a key measure of demand, rose by more than three percent in August, compared to the same month a year ago when the increase was relatively weak, the American Petroleum Institute reported Wednesday, September 18. The increase in gasoline deliveries this August occurred despite only moderate growth in personal income and little year-to-year change in gasoline prices, the API’s Monthly Statistical Report said.
Gasoline’s year-to-date growth has averaged 3 percent, the API report said. The last full year in which gasoline deliveries grew at something close to that rate was in 1998. Distillate deliveries, which includes diesel fuel and heating oil, fell by roughly as much as gasoline rose, API reported. Deliveries of kerosene jet fuel and residual fuel oil each added to their respective year-to-year declines that each now extend back for more than a year.
Total domestic deliveries for August averaged 1.4 percent lower than for the same month one year earlier.
Refinery activity, for the second month in a row, showed an increase over year-ago levels, as measured by inputs to distillation units. By that general measure, activity was up a scant 0.8 percent, similar to July’s increase, API reported. However, these recent gains contrast with the previous series of declines which had remained unbroken over the previous twelve months.
Gasoline production in August rose nearly 5 percent over last August’s level, while weak demand for other products was reflected in respective declines in output of distillate fuel oil, jet fuel, and residual fuel oil. For gasoline, production of nearly 8.7 million barrels per day was an all-time record for August, the API report said.
Gasoline and distillate inventories both slipped during August, in line with seasonal patterns, API reported.