U.S. refined products demand up sharply in March

Deliveries of petroleum products in the U.S. jumped 3.8% in March compared with a year ago and were up 1.4% for the first quarter this year, the American Petroleum Institute reported. API said deliveries (a key measure of demand) averaged 18,555,000 b/d for March and 18,504,000 b/d for the quarter. It said the robust U.S. economy, lower gasoline prices, and greater personal income combined to push up demand, even though the warmest winter temperatures since 1990 had a substantial drag on the

May 11, 1998

3 min read

Deliveries of petroleum products in the U.S. jumped 3.8% in March compared with a year ago and were up 1.4% for the first quarter this year, the American Petroleum Institute reported.

API said deliveries (a key measure of demand) averaged 18,555,000 b/d for March and 18,504,000 b/d for the quarter.

It said the robust U.S. economy, lower gasoline prices, and greater personal income combined to push up demand, even though the warmest winter temperatures since 1990 had a substantial drag on the demand for heating oil and other products.

It noted that U.S. crude production declined as lower prices squeezed stripper well and heavy crude production.

Gasoline demand up

U.S. gasoline deliveries were up 2.8% in the quarter, the largest increase for a quarter since 1995.

"Lower gasoline prices, favorable driving conditions, and an average 4% growth in personal income propelled demand. Retail prices nationally averaged $1.03/gal for the quarter compared with $1.21 for the same period last year. Gasoline deliveries averaged 8 million b/d in March and 7,800,000 b/d for the quarter."

API said distillate deliveries (heating oil and diesel fuel) were up 1% at 3,613,000 b/d for the quarter. The strong underlying growth in transportation demand for diesel fuel was offset by lower demand for heating oil because of the warmer temperatures this winter. Demand for heating oil in March declined by 50,000 b/d.

Kerosine jet fuel deliveries were down 0.7% at 1,552,000 b/d for the quarter. Demand was up for commercial airline traffic, but the use of jet fuel for blending with distillate in very cold temperature areas declined.

Residual deliveries fell 8.6% to 820,000 b/d for the quarter. But deliveries were up in March as buyers took advantage of lower prices and built inventories.

Oil production, imports

U.S. crude oil production slipped 0.3% to 6,354,000 b/d. Alaska's production declined as production in the Lower 48 increased.

At the end of March, crude oil prices were $5/bbl lower than a year ago. These lower prices have resulted in a decline in the rig count.

Natural gas liquids output fell 2.7% to 1,823,000 b/d for the quarter.

U.S. imports of crude and petroleum products were nearly unchanged from a year ago at 9,633,000 b/d for the quarter. An increase in crude oil imports offset the drop in product imports.

Refinery utilization, stocks

U.S. refinery activity bounced back in March from a seasonal low in February. Input to crude distillation units for the quarter was up 5.4% at 14,575,000 b/d. The refinery utilization rate was 94.1% in March.

Stocks of crude and petroleum products at the end of March were 990,200,000 bbl, up 0.4% from the end of February and up 4.4% from a year ago.

Crude oil stocks of almost 329 million bbl were slightly above the historical average, distillate inventories of 122 million bbl were at their highest level since March 1982, and gasoline stocks of 214 million bbl were at their highest level since the first quarter in 1993.