A lingering cold spell in much of the United States is suppressing the demand for petroleum and petroleum products, the American Petroleum Institute said. API said the delivery of petroleum products, a measure of demand, declined 0.6 percent in February to 18.5 million barrels per day, the lowest average for any February since 1998. API Chief Economist John Felmy said the cold weather was suppressing demand for petroleum products like gasoline. “Cold weather tends to have a dampening effect on the economy, which helped reduce demand for many types of fuel in February,” he said in a statement Thursday. API said demand for gasoline declined 0.2 percent from February 2013, though it was up 1.1 percent from the previous month. January’s gasoline demand of the equivalent of 8.4 million barrels per day, however, was a 13-year low for the month. API said crude oil […]