News

WASHINGTON, December 14, 2006 – A sharp drop in residual fuel oil use pushed overall U.S. oil demand down in November compared to year-ago levels though demand for other refined products remained buoyant. In its Monthly Statistical Report covering November 2006, API attributed the 500,000-barrel-per-day decline in residual fuel oil demand to the fact that November 2005 demand was boosted by a high level of fuel switching by utilities that substituted costly natural gas with heavy fuel oil.

WASHINGTON, September 13, 2006 – U.S. oil demand slipped in August compared to year-earlier levels as lower deliveries of jet fuel and residual fuel oil offset rising gasoline and distillate deliveries, data compiled by the American Petroleum Institute show. In its Monthly Statistical Report covering August 2006, API noted that U.S. stockpiles of crude oil and refined products stood at their highest levels for end-August in several years, thanks to extraordinary high imports and near-record domestic refinery production.

WASHINGTON, August 27, 2006 – U.S. gasoline demand rose in July compared to year-earlier levels despite higher pump prices, data compiled by the American Petroleum Institute show.

WASHINGTON, July 19, 2006 - Record high crude oil prices led to lower U.S. refined product demand in the first half of 2006 though the nation imported more gasoline than ever before, the American Petroleum Institute reported today in its Monthly Statistical Report for June, which includes supply and demand statistics for the first six months of the year.

U.S. petroleum imports, including crude oil and refined petroleum products, in June 2006 were 13,906,000 barrels per day. Total imports in June as a percentage of total domestic petroleum deliveries, a key measure of demand, were 67.4 percent. U.S. crude oil production in June was 5,146,000 per day, of which 810,000 b/d was Alaskan.

WASHINGTON June 14, 2006 – U.S. motorists appear to be doing what they can to cut back on their fuel use to offset the impact of higher pump prices as May gasoline deliveries, a proxy for demand, plunged 3.3 percent from May 2005 levels amid a 35 percent rise in retail prices, data compiled by the American Petroleum Institute shows.

WASHINGTON May 3, 2006 - The American Petroleum Institute today issued the following statement regarding oil and natural gas company earnings:

WASHINGTON, April 21, 2006 - With the end of the federal oxygen mandate approaching, API data show a noticeable movement towards greater use of ethanol in gasoline. For example, by the first week of April, the ethanol-blended product's share of reformulated gasoline (RFG) had risen to 67 percent, up from 57 percent one year earlier.

WASHINGTON, January 19, 2006 - Higher oil prices due to tight global crude oil markets and Gulf Coast hurricane damage led to lower U.S. demand and record product imports in 2005, the American Petroleum Institute reported today in API’s year-end Monthly Statistical Report.

WASHINGTON, January 16, 2006 - 

Statement by John Felmy
Chief Economist and Director
Statistics Department

2005 was another challenging year for the U.S. oil and natural gas industry and its customers. In the first part of the year, tight markets for crude oil led to higher prices going into the end Then the industry felt the one-two punches of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and a substantial portion of production, refining, transportation and marketing sectors were shut down.