WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following text is the summary of the
American Petroleum Institute’s monthly report on domestic petroleum
deliveries, gasoline deliveries and crude oil production for February
released Friday:
Total domestic petroleum deliveries, a measure of U.S. petroleum
demand, dropped 1.3 percent in March as compared with the same month in
2011. Gasoline deliveries, a measure of consumer gasoline demand,
increased 3.0 percent to 9.0 million barrels per day, the second monthly
increase in demand since February 2011. For the first quarter of 2012,
gasoline demand increased only slightly by 0.4 percent over the first
quarter of 2011. This weak demand change is reflective of relatively
weak employment conditions. Recent BLS data showed employment growth
from February to March, but at a less than expected amount. For both
the month and quarter, conventional gasoline demand was up and
reformulated demand was down. Reformulated gasoline is mostly used in
urban areas and conventional is used in more rural areas. It appears
that the higher gasoline prices may have encouraged more use of public
transit resulting in less consumption of reformulated gasoline.
Deliveries of distillate fuel, which include both diesel and
heating oil, increased by 0.1 percent to 3.995 million barrels per day
for March and declined by 1.2 percent for the quarter. Ultra-low sulfur
diesel deliveries showed growth of 5.5 percent for the month and 2.4
percent for the quarter. High-sulfur distillate deliveries were down by
19.4 percent for the month and 19.8 percent for the quarter due to the
relatively warm weather. Jet fuel deliveries decreased 5.0 percent for
the month and 2.2 percent for the quarter. Residual fuel deliveries
were down 12.6 percent for the month and 28.9 percent for the quarter.
The “other oils” category declined by 2.2 percent for the month and 4.2
percent for the quarter.
Domestic crude oil production rose by 4.7 percent to average 5.899
million barrels per day in March. Alaskan production was down by 3.3
percent from last March, at 591 thousand barrels per day. North Dakota
produced record levels of crude oil for the State at 551 thousand
barrels per day in March. The number of oil and gas rig counts declined
from 1990 in February to 1979 in March, according to the latest reports
from Baker-Hughes Inc. Imports of crude oil and refined products fell in
March by 6.6 percent to average 10.6 million barrels per day as
increased domestic production offset the lower import levels. Canadian
crude imports increased by 1.9 percent in March to average 2.155 million
barrels per day.
March’s total refinery inputs were higher than last year’s levels
by 2.3 percent. Production of all four major products – gasoline,
distillate, jet fuel and residual fuels was greater than demand for
those products, so exports of refined petroleum products increased by
2.6 percent.
Gasoline production at 9.3 million barrels per day was at a
record-high for the month of March and year to date. Distillate fuel
production at 4.4 million barrels per day was at a record-high for March
and year to date. Utilization rates were up in March this year compared
with last year.
In March, crude oil stocks at 361.2 million barrels were down 0.4
percent from last year and up 4.5 percent from February levels.
Gasoline stocks were up from year-ago and down slightly from month-ago
levels. Distillate fuel inventories were down from month-ago and
year-ago levels and reached 135.1 million barrels. Jet fuel stocks were
up from year ago levels, but down from month ago levels. Stocks of
“other oils” were down from year ago and up from month ago levels.
Total inventories of all oils were up from month ago and down from year
ago levels by about 3.7 percent.
** MNI Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
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