Green Car Congress: US petroleum demand drops 5.7% in January on heating oil decline

Total petroleum deliveries (a measure of demand) fell 5.7% in January 2012 compared with January 2011 to just over 18 million barrels per day, according to figures from the American Petroleum Institute (API). Gasoline deliveries slipped 0.2% to 8.4 billion barrels per day. While demand for all major refined products declined, the overall dip was driven in significant part by a nearly 27% reduction in deliveries of high-sulfur distillate fuel, which is used in home heating. The slide in heating fuel demand reflects January’s relatively warm temperatures.

Consumer demand for gasoline has not recovered from 2007 highs. A number of factors arguably have contributed to this in recent years, including more fuel-efficient cars, higher gasoline prices and demographic changes in the driving-age population—in addition to a sluggish economy.

—API chief economist John Felmy