copious.abundance wrote:Just because vehicle miles traveled is starting to rise does not mean gasoline consumption is starting to rise.
All those Priuses and hybrid Escapes can start to add up, you know.
From the looks of the graph the USA has gone on a massive Gasoline burning binge this year as prices fell substantially. Even though domestic oil production has been falling for about six months now the world price has remained very low relative to the last five years.
So to see if I could get a clearer picture of oil imports to the USA I dug through the archives and found oil import numbers for this week just to compare.
pup55 wrote:Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data for the Week Ending September 3, 2010
U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 14.9 million barrels per day during the week ending September 3, 90 thousand barrels per day above the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 88.2 percent of their operable capacity last week. Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 9.5 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production remained relatively unchanged last week, averaging 4.3 million barrels per day.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged 8.9 million barrels per day last week, down by 794 thousand barrels per day from the previous week. Over the last four weeks, crude oil imports have averaged 9.5 million barrels per day, 500 thousand barrels per day above the same four-week period last year. Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 1.1 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel imports averaged 253 thousand barrels per day last week.
pup55 wrote:Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data for the Week Ending September 9, 2011
U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.0 million barrels per day during the week ending September 9, 426 thousand barrels per day below the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 87.0 percent of their operable capacity last week. Gasoline production increased last week, averaging about 9.4 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production decreased last week, averaging nearly 4.5 million barrels per day.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged 8.5 million barrels per day last week, down by 23 thousand barrels per day from the previous week. Over the last four weeks, crude oil imports have averaged close to 8.9 million barrels per day, 494 thousand barrels per day below the same four-week period last year. Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 659 thousand barrels per day. Distillate fuel imports averaged 154 thousand barrels per day last week.
Rabbit wrote:Petroleum Balance Summery, Week Ending September 6th 2013
U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged about 15.9 million barrels per
day during the week ending September 6, 2013, roughly the same as
the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 92.5 percent of their
operable capacity last week. Gasoline production was flat compared to
the previous week, averaging 9.1 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel
production was also unchanged last week, averaging about 5.0 million
barrels per day.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged about 8.0 million barrels per day last
week, down by 238 thousand barrels per day from the previous week.
Over the last four weeks, crude oil imports averaged over 8.1 million
barrels per day. Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished
gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 401
thousand barrels per day. Distillate fuel imports averaged 99 thousand
barrels per day last week.
Rabbit wrote:Data for week ending Sept 5 | Release Date: Sept 10 | Next Release Date: Sept 17, 2014
U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged over 16.3 million barrels per day
during the week ending September 5, 2014, 96,000 barrels per day less
than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 93.9% of their
operable capacity last week. Gasoline production decreased last week,
averaging about 9.0 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production
increased last week, averaging 5.1 million barrels per day.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged over 7.6 million barrels per day last
week, down by 54,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over
the last four weeks, crude oil imports averaged 7.6 million barrels
per day, 6.8% below the same four-week period last year. Total motor
gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending
components) last week averaged 324,000 barrels per day. Distillate fuel
imports averaged 87,000 barrels per day last week.
Rabbit wrote:decreased last week, averaging 4.8 million barrels per day.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged about 7.5 million barrels per day last
week, down by 396,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over
the last four weeks, crude oil imports averaged over 7.6 million barrels
per day, 0.5% above the same four-week period last year. Total motor
gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending
components) last week averaged 589,000 barrels per day. Distillate fuel
imports averaged 130,000 barrels per day last week.
So from these snapshots USA crude imports fell substantially from 2009. Not surprising given the fracking boom that we all have heard about to the Nth degree around here. The part I find mildly surprising is, even though domestic production has been sliding for six months the rate of imports has not changed in any meaningful way despite the vast increase in gasoline consumption going on this year.
How long until we see USA crude imports climbing back to 2009 levels? The stockpiles of stored crude won't last forever. Of course the other factor as I understand it is the light tight 'fracked' oil produces more gasoline when refined than heavier oils do, so this can create something of a gasoline glut if exports go down just a little faster than decline in the fracking plays.