OREANDA-NEWS. January 29, 2018. Total petroleum deliveries in December rose to 20.7 million barrels per day. This was the strongest December monthly demand in the last decade.  For 2017, total domestic petroleum deliveries rose by 1.0 percent year-on-year, despite oil prices that rose over the second half of the year. U.S. oil production also continued to increase in December to 9.75 million barrels per day (MBD), a 47-year high, while U.S. exports of crude oil and refined products – up by nearly 1.0 MBD for 2017 – set new records.

Consumer gasoline demand, as measured by total motor gasoline deliveries, rose by 0.5 percent from a year ago to 9.3 MBD, which was the strongest December since 2006 and the highest annual gasoline deliveries on record.  Consequently, annual 2017 gasoline demand was the highest on record and reflected a combination of solid economic growth and relatively low prices.

In December, U.S. crude oil production rose to 9.75 MBD, which was an increase of 11.1 percent from December 2016 and 0.6 percent versus November; this was the highest monthly output in nearly 47 years, since April 1971. For 2017, U.S. crude oil production increased by 4.9 percent from 2016 levels.

Natural gas liquids production, a co-product of natural gas production, achieved record output for the month of December at nearly 4.0 MBD, up by 6.3 percent from November, 17.8 percent from December 2016, and 5.7 percent for 2017. Additionally, U.S. dry natural gas production averaged a record-high 78.1 billion cubic feet per day during December 2017, which was up by 1.1 percent from November and 9.8 percent from December 2016. 

In response to new and evolving needs of the marketplace, API is sharing its Monthly Statistical Report for free on its website beginning in January 2018. Two months in advance of when monthly data are available from the EIA, this report provides estimates through December 2017, based on the same industry survey that supports the weekly inventory releases by API and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). For more information on the monthly reports, please visit our Energy Tomorrow blog and website, where the reports are now available to view and share.