May oil demand down 0.1 pct from year ago: API

By Chris Baltimore

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Demand for crude oil and petroleum products in May fell a slight 0.1 percent from a year earlier, and U.S. gasoline use for the January-May period dropped for the first time since 1991, as record-high pump prices dented demand, the American Petroleum Institute said on Wednesday.

Total petroleum product deliveries, excluding exports, averaged 20.614 million barrels per day, down 17,000 bpd from May 2007, the API said in its monthly oil report.

Sagging gasoline and residual fuel use was nearly offset by strong demand for distillates and jet fuel, the API said.

"Gasoline demand has weakened with higher prices, but diesel demand has proved to be more resilient," said Ron Planting, an analyst at the API.

Deliveries, which are a good indicator of demand, are calculated by the API to reflect petroleum products moved from refineries and bulk storage to wholesale and retail suppliers.

U.S. refineries churned out record amounts of distillate and ultra-low sulfur diesel in May, and jet fuel output rose 6.6 percent from the prior year, the API said.

Meanwhile gasoline demand in May fell by 133,000 bpd, or 1.4 percent, to 9.296 million bpd as crude oil prices rose to around $135 a barrel and pump prices climbed to near $4 a gallon nation-wide.

Deliveries of distillate fuel oil -- including heating oil and diesel fuel -- jumped 222,000 bpd, or 5.5 percent, to 4.282 million bpd, the API said.