U.S. oil demand rose to a seasonal record in May as American cars guzzled the most gasoline since before the pandemic, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday.
Total crude oil and petroleum product supplied, the EIA’s proxy for demand, rose by 792,000 barrels per day (bpd) month-over-month to 20.80 million bpd in May, the data showed. That is the highest monthly figure since August, and a record high for the month of May.
The data marks a significant reversal in the trajectory of U.S. oil demand: weekly updates from the EIA had pegged oil demand for May at just around 20 million bpd.
Demand for gasoline alone rose to a post-pandemic high of 9.40 million bpd, the most since August 2019. The previous post-pandemic high for U.S. gasoline consumption was 9.36 million bpd in June 2021. Gasoline demand in the U.S. typically peaks during the summer driving season.
While markets are unlikely to react to the data because of the time lag, it should make forecasters raise their projections for this year’s U.S. oil demand growth, UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.
The U.S. is the world’s largest consumer of oil, making its demand trajectory crucial to global markets and energy transition targets.
OIL AND GAS OUTPUT FALLS
Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil production fell in May in its first monthly decline since January, while natural gas output decreased to its lowest since February 2023, EIA data showed.
Crude oil production fell by 61,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 13.18 million bpd in May, as lower output from the Federal Offshore Gulf of Mexico and North Dakota offset record production in Texas and New Mexico, the EIA said.
Gross natural gas production in the U.S. Lower 48 states fell for a third month in a row in May to 113.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), according to EIA’s monthly 914 production report.
That was the first time gas output fell for three months in a row since October 2020 and compares with a monthly record high of 118.2 bcfd in December 2023.
In top gas-producing states, monthly output in May rose to a record high of 35.1 bcfd in Texas and a three-month high of 19.5 bcfd in Pennsylvania.
That compares with a monthly record high of 21.9 bcfd in Pennsylvania in December 2021.