California gasoline consumption down in Jan.


By Erwin Seba
REUTERS

10:26 a.m. April 30, 2008

HOUSTON – Drivers in California, the largest U.S. motor fuel market, used 4.5 percent less gasoline in January than they did the year before, the state Board of Equalization said Wednesday.
“Total gallons of gasoline used were 58.2 million fewer in January this year over last,” the Equalization Board said in a statement. “A month to month comparison shows that in January 2008, Californians used 115.8 million gallons, 8.6 percent less gasoline than in December 2007.”

“Yikes!” said one West Coast refined products trader after the Board of Equalization, which is California's sales tax oversight board, released the January statistics.
“Wow, just what I thought,” said a broker is West Coast refined products markets, where premiums for gasoline are trading around 10 cents over skyrocketing NYMEX prices because of lower demand and high inventories.

The California Energy Commission reported last week that the state's gasoline inventories were up 5 percent over last year.

“I think gasoline demand has been falling off nationwide,” said Gene McGillian, an analyst with Tradition Energy. “California is probably part of that trend.”

Weather may have combined with high prices to cut demand, said David Hackett, president of Stillwater Associates.

“Clearly price has a lot to do with it,” Hackett said. “That's not the whole reason. It rained in January 2008 and it didn't in 2007. Californians don't drive in the rain. Some of that was due to weather.”

During January, some parts of California, especially in the southern part of the state, received more rain than they had in the previous year and a half, according to the U.S. National Climatic Data Center.

For example, Santa Barbara, California, got 10.44 inches of rain (265.2 millimeters) in January, more than the previous 19-month total of 9.83 inches (249.7 mm), according to the Climatic Data Center.

The January 2008 pump price for gasoline in California averaged $3.30 per gallon, 68 cents higher than the January 2007 average, the board said.

On Wednesday, regular gasoline prices in California were running between $3.70 and $4.15 a gallon, according to websites tracking prices.