USA Diesel and Gasoline Demand Slip

Across oil-consuming economies, stress lines in oil consumption are continuing to form amid tight product supplies and high pump prices.

That’s according to a new market note from energy and environmental geo-analytics company Kayrros, which highlighted that U.S. diesel demand and U.S. gasoline demand had slipped.

“U.S. diesel demand, which had strongly benefited from online shopping during Covid and had long seemed impervious to rising prices, last week slipped below year-ago levels, in line with recent reports of sagging growth in online orders from major retailers,” Kayrros stated in the note, which was sent to Rigzone over the weekend.

“U.S. gasoline demand shows even clearer signs of losing steam. U.S. passenger road transportation has been exceptionally strong until late May but has remained consistently below last year’s level since around Memorial Day weekend, traditionally seen as the kickoff of the peak driving season,” Kayrros added.

According to a graph outlining on-road diesel consumption in the U.S., which was included in the note and which included data stretching back to 2019, the last time diesel demand slipped below last year’s levels was around the end of April. According to a graph outlining on-road gasoline consumption in the U.S., which was also included in the note and which also included data stretching back to 2019, prior to the latest stretch of year on year declines, the last time gasoline demand slipped below last year’s levels was also in April.

In the note, Kayrros conceded that the recent slowdown in U.S. end-user gasoline demand growth occurs from a “high baseline” and against the backdrop of U.S. gasoline inventories “reported at seven-year lows”. 

Kayrros also stated in the note that its measurements of end-user gasoline demand had been consistently higher than U.S. official estimates of gasoline deliveries into secondary storage and said tight gasoline inventories appear consistent with Kayrros estimates.

In a separate market note sent to Rigzone earlier this month, Kayrros outlined that the U.S. summer driving season was off to a slow start.

The average price of regular gasoline in the U.S. was $4.655 per gallon on July 12, according to the AAA gas prices website. Yesterday’s average was $4.678 per gallon, the week ago average was $4.800 per gallon, the month ago average was $5.010 per gallon and the year ago average was $3.147 per gallon, the AAA site showed. The highest recorded average price for regular gasoline was seen on June 14 at $5.016 per gallon, according to the site.

Average diesel prices in the U.S., as of July 12, came in at $5.625 per gallon, the AAA site showed. Yesterday’s average was $5.642 per gallon, the week ago average was $5.726 per gallon, the month ago average was $5.771 per gallon and the year ago average was $3.265 per gallon, according to the AAA site, which outlined that the highest recorded average price of diesel was seen on June 19 at $5.816 per gallon.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com