US gasoline demand up despite high pump prices

Crude oil prices rebounded slightly on Thursday after new reports showed that demand for gasoline in the US is still high despite high pump prices.

Demand for gasoline in the US was up 0.9 percent to 9.32 million barrels per day, while demand for all oil products gained 4.8 percent to 21.1 million barrels per day.  Meanwhile, gasoline inventories were up 0.8 million barrels during the week ending May 26 according to the US Energy Information Administration, when analysts had expected stockpiles to add 1.1 million barrels.  All this data combined to raise the price of July delivery gasoline on the New York Mercantile exchange by 0.5 cents to $2.1500 per gallon.

Crude oil inventories were up by 1.6 million barrels last week even though they had been predicted to be 0.9 million barrels lower.  Still, July delivery Brent crude on the International Petroleum Exchange added 3 cents to $70.44 per barrel, while Nymex July contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude was up 14 cents to $70.44 per barrel.