California fuel sales climbed in April

OREANDA-NEWS. July 26, 2016. Retail California gasoline and diesel sales in April reached their largest volume since 2007, according to the latest state tax records.

The state Board of Equalization reported 1.01mn b/d of taxable motor gasoline distributed in April, just 8,000 b/d fewer than volumes reported in the same month of 2007. The 2016 distributions were higher by 1.3pc from March and 1.6pc from the same month of 2015.

The data suggests very strong demand for the month amid relatively high production and despite an ongoing outage at the 155,000 b/d refinery operated at the time by ExxonMobil in Torrance, California.

The state drew down stockpiles of gasoline blendstocks in April while total state production of the fuel averaged 1.1mn b/d, according to California Energy Commission records.

An Energy Information Administration survey of fuel distributors reported a smaller volume for the month, at 957,000 b/d, and that volumes fell in May.

Taxable diesel volumes of 196,872 b/d for the same month were 2,000 b/d short of April 2007 volumes. Production fell by 4pc from March but were 12.6pc higher than in April 2015.