-April 2,2022-
Gasoline demand drops as prices rise
Energy Information Administration’s petroleum supply monthly, published on Thursday March 31, showed that total product supplied—the proxy for total oil demand—averaged 19.731 million barrels per day (bpd) in January.
EIA’s weekly data pegged American oil demand at a much higher level—21.7 million bpd.
“While weekly data pegged demand at 21.7m b/d, the monthly data cuts it back almost two million barrels a day to 19.73m b/d,” Javier Blas, energy and commodities columnist at Bloomberg, said on Thursday, also noting the “huge downward revision to U.S. oil demand for January 2022.”
The downward revision could be a sign that demand was not as strong as many analysts believed earlier this year.
Latest numbers
In the latest weekly assessment, the EIA estimated that gasoline demand alone fell from 8.63 million bpd to 8.5 million bpd last week.
“The drop in gas demand, alongside growth in total stocks, contributes to price decreases. If demand continues to decline as gasoline stocks continue to build, the national average will likely continue to move lower,” AAA said on Thursday, noting that gasoline prices have fallen this week slightly.In California the average price has dropped 4 cents says AAA to $5.86.
As usual the cheapest price for gas as of April 2 is in Lemoore Calif at Yokut Gas is selling for $4.65 gallon. The Native American owned station is expected to add another 16 pumps to their popular station later this year. Several other local stations are below $5 as well.
“The downdrafts will continue as oil drops after the SPR announcement,” GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, Patrick De Haan, said on Thursday after the U.S. announced the largest-ever SPR release. “Nearly all states will see falling #gasprices over the next week and potentially beyond,” De Haan added.
President Biden announced a release of 1 million barrels day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve- about 5% of daily oil consumption in the US.That amount more than makes up for Russia imports to the US at 700,000 barrels a day -now banned.
The latest EIA numbers (March 31) show total oil stocks in the United States are down by 151.7 MMbbl (-11.8%) versus a year ago and stand at 1.139 billion barrels (excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve). So with the new release from the SPR almost all of the deficit will be made up.
Worldwide many other countries plan to release oil from their reserves too.The International Energy Agency said Friday that its 31 member nations had agreed to a new release of emergency oil reserves in what is turning into a historic, wide-reaching effort to calm global markets roiled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Electric car sales jump
From press reports
U.S. automakers on Friday reported a slump in first-quarter domestic sales, as the entire industry was slammed by chip shortages and disruptions to supply chains.
Toyota, which in 2021 upstaged GM as the top-selling automaker in the United States, outsold the company in the first quarter on increased demand for its Lexus hybrid and electric vehicles.
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors and Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp all posted a drop in overall U.S. quarterly auto sales. Hyundai said electrified vehicle retail sales surged 241% in the January-March period from a year earlier.
“If gas prices remain high, that’s going to continue to push consumers toward green technology,” said Randy Parker, Hyundai’s senior vice president for U.S. sales.
UPDATE: TESLA
Tesla just reported first-quarter vehicle production and delivery numbers for 2022.
Here’s how they did.
Electric vehicle deliveries (total): 310,048
Electric vehicle production (total): 305,407
Over the same period last year, Tesla delivered 184,800 electric vehicles and produced 180,338 cars.