RTRS: US November oil demand fell 3.3 pct from year ago-API
WASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - U.S. oil demand continued to decline in
November, with demand falling to its lowest level for the month since 1995,
industry group American Petroleum Institute said on Friday.
Petroleum demand dropped 3.3 percent from a year earlier to 18.455 million
barrels per day.
"The economy has shown modest improvement, in employment for example, but the
fundamentals of fuel demand fail to indicate a strengthening recovery is imminent,"
API chief economist John Felmy said.
Gasoline demand dipped from a month earlier, falling 0.3 percent to 8.5 million
bpd. Consumption of the fuel was at the lowest level for November since 2000.
The API's demand figure for November is lower than the U.S. Energy Information
Administration's preliminary estimate of fuel consumption at 18.994 million bpd for
the month. The government agency saw November demand slightly higher a t 19.080.
The EIA issues its revised November demand number at the end of December.
Demand for distillate fuel, which includes diesel and heating oil, dropped 6.3
percent to 3.849 million bpd in November, the API said.
Jet fuel, too, was off with consumption down 0.5 percent to 1.409 million bpd
for the month, it said.
Total imports in November accounted for 54.5 percent of U.S. oil demand, down
from 58.5 percent a year earlier, the API figures showed.
U.S. DELIVERIES, IMPORTS, PRODUCTION
NOV 2012 NOV 2011 YR AGO PCT JAN-NOV 2012 YTD PCT
CHANGE CHANGE
DELIVERIES
Gasoline 8.513 8.537 -0.3 8.724 -0.4
Kerosene/jet 1.409 1.416 -0.5 1.409 -1.6
Distillate 3.849 4.109 -6.3 3.751 -3.9
Deliveries 18.455 19.080 -3.3 18.557 -2.1
Exports 3.075 3.159 -2.7 3.104 6.2
Total 21.530 22.239 -3.2 21.661 -1.0
