US distillate, gasoline production rises

14 May 2008 22:35  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Gasoline and distillate production is up in 2008, while demand and imports have fallen when compared with last year, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Wednesday.

The oil industry group said that gasoline output by US refiners averaged 8.9m bbl/day during April, up nearly 1% from a year ago. Distillate production, including diesel and heating oil, averaged 4.2m bbl/day, up 1.7% from 2007.

Domestic demand for petroleum products has fallen since the start of this year to the end of April compared with the same period in 2007, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Total product supplied for domestic use reached 20.228m bbl/day, down 2.4% from 20.717m bbl/day in 2007, the EIA said.

“We have still seen declines for the year-to-date across all major products,” said Ron Planting, API information analysis manager. “This is one of the reasons petroleum imports have been running nearly 4% lower than a year ago.

The US imported 13.2m bbl/day of crude oil and refined products during April, compared with 13.9m bbl/day during the same time last year, according to the API.

While product demand is down domestically, global middle distillate growth continues to surge.

A products trader based in New York said he has seen exports rising. Refinery snags in Europe, tight supply in Latin America and economic growth in Asia all have heightened demand for diesels and kerosene-type fuels, he said.

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By: Steven McGinn
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