API says US oil imports set record in April, gasoline prices plunging

July 11, 2001
The American Petroleum Institute said Wednesday that US imports of oil and products were a record 62.8% of domestic demand in April. The previous record was 61.5% in May 1999. API also said the price for a gallon of regular grade gasoline has fallen almost 28¢ in the 8 weeks since its peak in early May.


By the OGJ Online Staff

HOUSTON, July 11 -- The American Petroleum Institute said Wednesday that US imports of oil and products were a record 62.8% of domestic demand in April.

The previous record was 61.5% in May 1999. Last April's level also was 2.8 percentage points higher than March 2001.

Relying on US Energy Information Administration data, API said the US imported 12,311,000 b/d in April. Canada was the largest exporter to the US at 1.8 million b/d, followed by Saudi Arabia at 1.65 million b/d, Venezuela 1.61 million b/d, and Mexico 1.5 million b/d.

Also, API said US gasoline prices are continuing to fall from record levels this spring.

Relying on its own data, it said gasoline prices averaged $1.437/gal (including taxes) during the week ending July 6, down 3.7¢.

API said, "The price of a gallon of regular grade gasoline has now fallen almost 28¢ in the 8 weeks since its peak in early May."

It said gasoline production early this year was lower than during the same period in 2000, due to high heating fuel demand during an unusually cold winter. It said that as of July 6, year-to-date production of distillate fuels is 3.9% higher than last year.

API said so far this year, total inputs into the nation's 152 refineries have increased 2.4% from last year and refineries have operated at an average 92.7% of capacity, almost 2 percentage points higher than during the same period last year. In the most recent week, capacity utilization was 96.6%.

"Production of gasoline has run at record time-of-year levels for over 3 months as refiners work to maximize output for the summer driving season. Inventories of gasoline were up 400,000 bbl during the week ended July 6 and have risen by a net of nearly 30 million bbl since the beginning of April. They ended the week 6% above last year's level.

"The completion of the transition from winter-grade to summer-grade RFG (requiring the near emptying of storage to handle the more stringent specifications of the summer blend) appears to have affected reformulated gasoline inventories. Nationwide RFG inventories were 20% above last year's level and 16% above average for this time of year.

"Earlier in the year, low inventories, coupled with higher demand and lower output on a year-over-year basis contributed to gasoline price volatility. Since then the situation has reversed, leading to the moderation in prices seen over the last several weeks."