US gasoline demand rose by a modest 0.4 percent in April compared with last year, the first year-over-year increase since December, according to the US Energy Information Administration data on Friday. The increase, while small, is welcome news to US refiners and oil bulls who have feared that demand was weakening at a time when US and global petroleum inventories remain above or near five-year highs.
The rise in gasoline demand to 9.248 million barrels per day in April offset weaker appetite for distillates and helped pushed total US oil demand up by 1.4 percent year-on year to 19.527 million bpd, the latest data showed. US gasoline demand, which accounts for 10 percent of global consumption, has risen each year since 2012, but fell by 1.9 percent year-on-year in January, 2.4 percent in February and 0.4 percent in March.
US distillate demand fell by 0.8 percent year-over-year in April to 3.791 million bpd, EIA data showed. The weak US gasoline demand numbers are at odds with driving volumes, which are on pace for another record year, federal data shows, suggesting stronger fuel efficiency standards may be starting to take hold.
Motorists have travelled 1.01 trillion miles (1.63 trillion km) on US roads and highways this year through April, a 1.5 percent increase over the same stretch last year, according to the US Department of Transportation. The number of Americans travelling by car for the Fourth of July holiday will hit a record high this year, fuelled by a growing economy and relatively low gasoline prices, the nation's largest motorists' advocacy group said last week.
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