API semi-annual statistics show imports down 8.5 %

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

Imported crude oil and foreign petroleum refined products declined by an average 8.5 percent in the first half of 2002, the largest half-year decline in more than 10 years, the American Petroleum Institute reported July 17.

The API said reasons for this decline were increased production from deepwater Gulf of Mexico platforms, newly developed Alaska reserves and”exceptionally” weak domestic demand. Total imports, including gasoline, other fuels and crude oil, were 11.169 million barrels a day from January through June. This June imports declined 3.6 percent compared to June 2001, API reported in its Monthly Statistical Report.

The imports in this year’s first half represented about 58 percent of U.S. consumer demand, the API.

Gasoline production of 8.25 million bpd set a record for the January-June period, albeit by a very scant one-sixth of 1 percent, the report said.

Gasoline deliveries, the method of measuring demand by how much product reaches, or is delivered to wholesale levels for consumers, rose 1.9 percent in the year’s first half. The API report noted gasoline was the only major product to show positive growth.

Advanced technological methods of producing oil and natural gas in the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico resulted in a 2.2 percent increase for crude oil in June compared to a year ago, as well as a 1.5 percent increase in the first half of 2002.

Alaska production alone of 1.035 million b/d surged 10.7 percent over a year ago, the report said.

Deliveries for distillate fuel, used for diesel vehicles and heating homes and businesses, increased in June for the first time this year, which was 1.7 percent higher than a year ago. But comparing the two first halves, demand was down 6.5 percent.