The coronavirus-related decline in economic activity has dealt a body blow to U.S. petroleum deliveries, plummeting by 19.4 million barrels per day in March, according to a report from the American Petroleum Institute (API). When compared with the same months of 2019, February and March petroleum demand decreased 4.6 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively, and represents the lowest March demand since 2015.
With large sectors of the economy sidelined by closure and shelter-in-place edicts from state and federal governments to combat the spread of COVID-19, commercial activity has slumped dramatically and throttled the sales of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Consumer gasoline demand was 8.2 million barrels per day in March, a decline of 8.7 percent from February and 10.6 percent compared with March 2019, even as gas prices were trimmed by 8.1 percent, as reported by AAA.
Fuel oil — used in electric power production, space heating and industrial applications — was down
