WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2020) Efforts by many US states to reopen their economies shattered by novel coronavirus-imposed lockdowns in May led to a record surge in demand for gasoline, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report in May.
"From April to May, US product supplied of finished motor gasoline increased by 1.3 million barrels per day (b/d) to 7.2 million b/d, the largest month-over-month increase in volumetric terms in this monthly data series, which dates back to 1945," the report said. "Despite the increase, May 2020 gasoline demand was still 24 percent lower than the previous May."
The data series cited by EIA stopped in May, leaving it unclear how a spike in novel coronavirus cases that began in mid-June, which prompted many states to re-impose restrictions, affected demand.
Nevertheless, the report indicated the sensitivity of gasoline demand to changes in pandemic restrictions, in contrast to jet fuel, which continued to decline as refiners prioritized gasoline production because of a comparatively low demand from US airlines.
