US June oil demand down 5.4 % from year ago
US demand for crude oil and petroleum products declined 5.4 % during June as the weak economy continued to take a
toll on energy consumption, the American Petroleum Institute said.
June's total petroleum product deliveries, excluding exports, averaged 18.607 mm bpd, down 1.071 mm bpd from a year
ago, the API said in its monthly oil report.
Deliveries, which are a good indicator of demand, are calculated by the API to reflect petroleum products moved from
refineries and bulk storage to wholesale and retail suppliers. US petroleum demand declined 6 % to 18.75 mm bpd in
the first half of 2009, falling to the lowest level for the 6-month period in more than 10 years.
"The economic slowdown has had a particularly large impact on diesel and on jet fuel, though gasoline remains
depressed, as well," said API Statistics Manager Ron Planting in the report.
June gasoline demand increased by 16,000 bpd, or 0.2 %, to 9.126 mm bpd. Gasoline consumption for the first 6 months
of 2009 was still down 0.9 % from the same period a year ago. Deliveries of distillate fuel oil -- which includes
heating oil and diesel fuel -- declined by 279,000 bpd, or 7.4 %, to 3.484 mm bpd.
Jet fuel demand in June plunged 19.4 % to 1.309 mm bpd and residual fuel use sank 11 % to 608,000 bpd.
On the supply side, US crude oil production rose 1.7 % to 5.183 mm bpd. Crude oil and petroleum product imports
averaged 11.323 mm bpd, down 15.2 % from a year ago.
Total imports in June accounted for 60.8 % of US oil demand, down from 67.8 % a year earlier.
