Americans’ appetite for gasoline is flattening, and that could contribute to low or negative margins on motor gasoline for refineries along the Gulf and East Coast, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday.
The Houston Chronicle reports the agency estimated, in its short-term energy outlook released earlier this month, that U.S. gasoline consumption dipped 1.3% in October compared to the same time last year, the sixth month this year with year-over-year declines.
For the first three weeks of this month, estimated monthly gasoline consumption averaged about 9.2 million barrels per a day, a decrease of 262,000 barrels per a day since the same period a year ago. The agency said “gasoline production has outpaced demand, and inventories have increased beyond their normal seasonal levels, lowering gasoline prices and, as a result, gasoline margins.”
Gulf Coast refineries saw motor gasoline margins fall from 27 cents per gallon in the first half of the year to 1 cent a gallon in October and dipping even further down to negative values during November.
