US drivers burned through a record amount of petrol last month, according to industry data, showing the effects of cheap prices and a brightening labour market.
Motor gasoline deliveries totalled 9.668m barrels per day in July, up 2.4 per cent from a year ago and surpassing a high notched in June, the American Petroleum Institute said.
The volumes sold — more than 10 per cent of global oil demand — came as American drivers enjoyed the lowest petrol prices in a dozen years, averaging $2.24 a gallon. July and August are the height of the US summer holiday driving season.
The thirst for petrol did little to dent historically high US gasoline stocks that have dragged on oil markets. API said the stocks averaged 237.1m barrels in July, down fractionally from June and 8.7 per cent more than July 2015. In July US refiners upped gasoline output by 1.9 per cent on year to 10.2m b/d, while gasoline imports rose 10.5 per cent to 815,000 b/d, API said.
US petrol demand previously peaked in 2007. Some analysts speculated it would never again surpass that level as new fuel-economy standards and years of higher petrol prices curtailed consumption.
Instead, expanding payrolls and the effects of the oil market collapse have led more Americans onto roads, erasing some effects of a more efficient vehicle fleet.
Preliminary estimates from the Energy Information Administration suggested even higher gasoline consumption in July, though the US agency has tended to revise subsequent data lower.
Share this:
