. . . The first four months of this year also saw US petroleum demand average 750,000 barrels a day above the same period in 2017 despite higher prices.
Total petroleum products delivered to the domestic market in April 2018 were 20,308,000 b/d—a seasonal decrease of 1.5% from March but 3.8% above April 2017. This was the strongest April monthly demand since 2007.
Consumer gasoline demand, as measured by total motor gasoline deliveries, of 9.3 million barrels per day in April was up by 1.3% from March and 1.1% versus April 2017. The first four months of the year achieved the second highest year-to-date demand (9.1 MBD) on record.
Reformulated-type gasoline, which is consumed primarily in urban areas, was flat with growth of 0.1% y/y in April to 3.1 MBD. By contrast, conventional gasoline is used more in rural areas and rose by 1.5% y/y in April to 6.2 MBD.
In April, distillate deliveries of 4.2 MBD rose by 6.0% from March and 11.0% compared with April 2017. API noted that this data point was surprising, since it runs counter to typical seasonality between March and April. This was only fifth time on record since 1945 that distillate demand in April was greater than that from March.
About 94% of distillate demand in April was for ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD), which increased by 8.4% m/m and 9.6% y/y. The growth suggested strong road freight transportation activity, API said.
Jet fuel demand also achieved its strongest April on record. . . .