As coronavirus epidemic brought the economy and transportation system to a sudden stop, US gasoline consumption fell to its slowest rate for more than a quarter of a century last week.
The first clue to the epidemic’s impact on the oil market provided by the estimates for the volume of gasoline and other petroleum products supplied to the domestic market published on Wednesday.
Down from 9.70 million bpd two weeks earlier, gasoline supplied fell to 6.66 million bpd, data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed. Since 1994, that is the slowest rate.
Among the main petroleum products in the US, gasoline was the hardest hit. However, there was also smaller declines in diesel and a substantial decline in the volume of jet fuel supplied.
The total volume of petroleum products supplied over the two-week period shrank by 3.6 million bpd. This is equivalent to more than 4 standard deviations and the largest drop for more than 30 years.
