February gasoline demand, production rise to record levels: API

Cathy Landry | 202.682.8122 | landryc@api.org

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2010 – Both U.S. gasoline production and gasoline demand reached all-time highs for a February, according to API’s Monthly Statistical Report, which reflects data from February 2010. February total motor gasoline deliveries (a measure of demand) rose 2.2 percent from 2009 to 2010, to stand at a record 9 million barrels per day, while finished gasoline production gained 0.4 percent, to hit a record February high of 8.8 million barrels per day. February gasoline (and components) imports fell 25.9 percent from a year ago, to 813,000 barrels/day.

“These numbers clearly show that the refining industry is making the gasoline consumers are demanding – and making it at record levels,” said API Chief Economist John Felmy. “Production is keeping pace with demand – which appears driven in part by some brightness in the economic picture – even as imports fall.”

Domestic crude oil production for February 2010 reached 5.5 million barrels per day, the highest level since June 2005 and 3.6 percent higher than February 2009. Lower 48 crude production rose 5.5 percent from February 2009 to 4.8 million barrels per day, while Alaskan output gained 0.3 percent from prior-year levels to 681,000 barrels/day.

Rig counts are up, according to Baker Hughes, which reported that the U.S. rig count for February jumped 6.6 percent from January and 2.3 percent from the same month a year ago. Among the lower 48 states, North Dakota garnered the bulk of the oil rig increases, with the North Dakota State Department of Mineral Resources reporting that rig counts in the state topped 100 for the first time in three decades – 102 rigs in February 2010, the highest level since October 1981.

Crude oil inventories for February inched up for the second straight month and were, at 339.9 million barrels, 1.9 percent higher than January levels. Still, February crude inventories continue to be about 4.2 percent lower than the same month a year ago. Ultra-low sulfur diesel inventories for February dropped 5 percent from January but rose 7.3 percent from a year ago. Total distillate stock levels for February were the highest for any February since 1981, reflecting continued sluggish U.S. demand. Total February distillate deliveries fell 6 percent from a year ago, to 3.7 million barrels per day.