U.S. KEROSINE JET FUEL CONSUMPTION SOARS

U.S. kerosine jet fuel deliveries were at near record levels in November, but demand for other major petroleum products continued to decline. The American Petroleum Institute said jet fuel deliveries increased 4.5% in November, compared with a year ago. They were nearly 1.4 million b/d, the highest for any November on record and near the record high of last December, when jet fuel was blended with distillate for use as heating fuel during record cold weather.

Dec. 31, 1990

2 min read

U.S. kerosine jet fuel deliveries were at near record levels in November, but demand for other major petroleum products continued to decline.

The American Petroleum Institute said jet fuel deliveries increased 4.5% in November, compared with a year ago. They were nearly 1.4 million b/d, the highest for any November on record and near the record high of last December, when jet fuel was blended with distillate for use as heating fuel during record cold weather.

Growth in commercial airline travel contributed to the November deliveries growth as unprecedented flight discounts and incentives spurred travel demand, API said.

The increase came despite a 10,000 b/d drop in U.S. military demand, a result of the transfer of hundreds of military jets to Saudi Arabia.

Stormy weather in Alaska's Prince William Sound hampered loadings at the Port of Valdez in November and slowed throughput in the trans-Alaskan crude oil pipeline to as little as 700,000 b/d for brief periods. The result was a 150,000 b/d drop in Alaskan production from October's recent month high.

"Because of recent production enhancements, the year to year decline under more normal conditions would have been much less than the 180,000 b/d observed," API said.

Lower 48 production dropped 275,000 b/d or 4.9% from November 1989 to 9.91 million b/d last November.

November petroleum imports were 6.9 million b/d. They fell for the fourth month in a row, a decline of nearly 900,000 b/d since August.

Two thirds of that decline reflected a significant draw on domestic inventories during the past 4 months vs. a smaller build during the same period last year.

Withdrawals from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve added about 110,000 b/d, or less than 1% of refineries crude runs for the month, to crude oil supplies during November.

API said the decline in product deliveries resulted in refinery utilization slipping to 84%, down 2 percentage points from November a year ago. Capacity utilization was an estimated 87%, down from near maximum rates of 95-96% in July-September.