MW: Petroleum demand falls to decade low in first half
By Moming Zhou
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. demand for total petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel fell in the first half of the year to the lowest level in a decade, a monthly report released by the American Petroleum Institute showed Thursday. Petroleum products delivered to the market, an implied gauge of demand, fell to an average of 18.75 million barrels a day in the first half, the API, a petroleum industry group, said. That's 5.8% lower than the same period a year ago, and nearly 10%, or 2 million barrels a day, lower than the peak reached in 2005.
