Fuel Demand Is Cratering Like Never Before – By Matthew C. Klein (Barron’s) / April 8 2020
The coronavirus depression continues to break records for energy consumption—and some segments of the market have further to fall.
For the week ended April 3, American consumers used an average of 5.06 million barrels of finished motor gasoline each day, while airplanes used an average of 755,000 barrels per day of jet fuel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest weekly estimate of demand for petroleum-based fuels. These figures are down about 50% from comparable periods in recent years.
This is a staggering, unprecedented decline in demand for energy. While the weekly data go back only to 1991, the EIA’s monthly data go back to 1945 for gasoline and back to 1965 for jet fuel—and the current demand rivals levels not seen in decades.
American demand for gasoline has not been lower since 1969. Back then, the U.S. population was 40% smaller and Americans at the time were much less likely to drive long distances. In 1970, the earliest year for which there are data, Americans logged only a third as many miles as they did in 2019. Fuel efficiency has improved somewhat over that time, but the pace of the drop can be explained only by the sudden lack of interest in leaving the house.
Continue to article: https://www.barrons.com/articles/fuel-demand-is-cratering-like-never-before-51586379540?mod=hp_DAY_3
