US petroleum demand increased in August, and supply decreased, while Gulf Coast refineries, petrochemical plants, and export terminals coped with seasonal disruptions due to Hurricane Laura, according to the American Petroleum Institute data. Crude oil and refined product exports increased during the month, while imports fell. Together these fundamentals contributed to lower crude oil stocks (but higher refined product inventories) and higher prices against an economic backdrop that has broadly improved. Demand US petroleum demand, as measured by total domestic petroleum deliveries, was 18.3 million b/d in August. This reflected a 0.2% increase from July but a decrease of 13.6% (2.9 million b/d) below August 2019 levels. The rebound since April has amounted to 3.6 million b/d so far with motor gasoline accounting for 82% of the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer gasoline demand, measured by motor gasoline deliveries, was 8.8 million b/d in August. This was a […]