Gasoline consumption rates showed that gasoline prices in the United States of America decreased significantly over the past two months, in response to the record prices that were previously set last June, which exceeded the barrier of $ 5 per gallon, despite that Americans are moving away from the “accelerator pedal.” .
Gasoline prices drop in the USA
In fact, measuring the rate of fuel consumption in the United States of America at the present time is very difficult, but there are many sources of information that indicate that it stabilizes at times and decreases at other times compared to the summer driving seasons.
The US Energy Information Administration (a government statistical agency) estimated the amount of demand for gasoline at an average of 8.9 million barrels per day, during the four weeks until August 5, a slightly lower rate than a month earlier, and 6% lower than the same time period last year, When the price per gallon was $3.
For its part, the Energy Information Administration lowered the level of gasoline consumption forecasts for the full year, as a survey conducted by the Oil Price Information Service of gas stations across the country indicated that the volume of gasoline pumped last week decreased by an average of 2% from the previous week, and was down 5% from the year Previous, and 19% for the same period of time during 2019, before the pandemic (Covid-19), according to Financial Times reports .
And travel data from the Federal Highway Administration in America showed that traffic volume exceeded 2021 levels during the first five months of 2022.
The AAA motorists group said, there is a survey that showed that more than two-thirds of drivers have changed their habits significantly since last March, as a result of higher prices, by reducing the quantities they drive and thus combining tasks.
Meanwhile, gasoline prices fell by more than a fifth from their peak in mid-June and less than $4 for the time in nearly 6 months, according to the AAA.
Why did the Americans stay away from the “throttle”?
Despite the drop in gasoline prices, it was noticed that Americans were moving away from the so-called “throttle pedal”, as the head of oil analysis at Opis, Tom Kluza, says, “Demand for gasoline has not increased despite its low prices.”
To find out why, Giovanni Circella, an expert in travel behavior at the University of California, says, “Gasoline prices do not have to be the most important factor in determining whether Americans will return to the roads, as employers who are tightening rules for returning to work and facing the waves of the pandemic, It can replace any movements within prices.”
As Bob Peshaw, a senior analyst at Enrix, says, “The driving process is relatively inflexible, which means that a big change in gasoline prices only makes a small change in driving.”
For its part, international oil refiners indicate that the market is still tight after a large amount of production capacity was shut down during the epidemic, as Gary Simmons, chief commercial officer of Valero Energy, told analysts during the recent period that there is a state of calm. The company sees it during early July, but with that demand recovering from that date to June levels.
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