Clipper Oil: Latest Fuel News - U.S. Gasoline Consumption Hasn’t Been This Low Since Vietnam War

Latest Fuel News

May 2020

U.S. Gasoline Consumption Hasn’t Been This Low Since Vietnam War

Consumption of petroleum products in the world’s top oil consumer, the United States, has fallen to its lowest level in decades, as lockdowns restrict travel and the economy slows, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday.

According to EIA’s estimates of petroleum products supplied—its proxy metric for consumption—demand for petroleum products in the latest reporting week to April 17 was 14.1 million barrels per day (bpd), up slightly from the 13.8 million bpd estimated consumption in the previous week, which was the lowest weekly consumption level in EIA’s statistics dating back to the early 1990s. Including the most recent week to April 17, petroleum consumption in the U.S. in recent weeks has slumped by 31 percent compared to the average petroleum demand between January 1 and March 13, when the states started putting restrictions on travel. Continue reading here ( Source: Oil Price).

Oil Surges On Big Bet That Drivers Will Take To The Roads As States Reopen

Oil prices are rising as producers cut output and investors bet the American

consumer will help drive the industry out of its demand crisis as the U.S. economy reopens.

West Texas Intermediate oil futures for June rose 20.5 % Tuesday, in a fifth

straight day of gains for the first time since July. WTI was up $4.17 at $24, 56

per barrel. Continue reading here (Source: CNBC).

Oil Tankers Crowd Outside Of Largest U.S. Port With Nowhere To Unload: "There's No More Space"

Off the coast of Southern California, several massive oil tankers have turned the waters surrounding the nation's largest port complex into a floating parking lot. Before the most recent rebound, the coronavirus pandemic combined with an over-supply of crude oil forced a record drop in gasoline prices in April, meaning the ships that traveled miles to port have nowhere to unload.

"We have filled all of the storage tanks at refineries all in California," oil industry analyst Professor Iraj Ershaghi told CBS News' Carter Evans.

He said the traffic jam was simply because "there's no more space" to store the oil. Continue reading here (Source: CBS News ).

EIA Gasoline and Diesel Retail Prices Update: May 4, 2020

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly data on diesel and gasoline retail prices for the week ended May 4, 2020. Retail prices for gasoline rose for the first time in 9 weeks. Diesel prices continued to sink, as the COVID-19 pandemic causes severe demand destruction. Continue reading here (Source: Fuels Market News).

Phillips 66 Expects Gasoline To Lead Oil Product Demand Recovery

Phillips 66 expects to see gasoline demand recovering more quickly than distillate demand as stay-at-home orders begin to be lifted across the U S.

CEO Greg Garland said on Friday's first-quarter earnings call he suspects the increase in refined product demand is "going to be around gasoline."

"People have been cooped up," he said. "They want to drive. I think they are going to be reluctant to go get in the middle seat on an airplane first." Continue reading here ( Source: S&P Global).

Refiners Are Key to Oil’s Rebound—and The Biggest Reason Prices Are Spiking

U.S. oil prices have jumped 99% in just the past week, an incredible performance that has made energy a top performing sector after months of under performance .

There are several reasons for this. OPEC and its allies have begun to cut production by 9.7 million barrels a day. U.S. firms are also cutting back to keep from filling up the country’s oil storage tanks, and have already decreased output by nearly 1 million barrels, too.

But the most important reason is that refiners have started to see gasoline demand rise, the first and most important sign that the U.S. economy will once again need oil products. Continue reading here (Source: Barrons's).