U.S. oil consumption slowed in June to the lowest seasonal levels since the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed on Friday.

Product supplied of crude oil and petroleum products, EIA’s proxy for demand, fell 2.7% month over month to 20.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in June. That is the lowest for June since 2020.

The sharp decline comes after consumption rose to a seasonal high of 20.80 million bpd in May.

Distillate demand was also at its seasonal lowest since 2020, the EIA data showed. Consumption of distillate fuel oil, which includes diesel and heating oil, fell 4.9% from May to 3.59 million bpd in June.

Gasoline demand fell 1.7% month over month to 9.12 million bpd in June, EIA said.

Crude oil production in the country rose by 25,000 bpd from May to 13.21 million bpd in June, EIA data showed. May output was revised higher by 11,000 bpd from the numbers reported last month.

Gross natural gas production in the U.S. Lower 48 states rose to a four-month high of 115.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in June, according to EIA’s monthly 914 production report.

That was the first time gas output rose for two months in a row since December 2023 and compares with a monthly record high of 118.2 bcfd also in December 2023.

In top gas-producing states, monthly output in June rose to a record high of 35.5 bcfd in Texas and a four-month high of 20.4 bcfd in Pennsylvania.

That compares with a monthly record high of 21.9 bcfd in Pennsylvania in December 2021.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Shariq Khan and Scott DiSavino in New York; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)