US retail gasoline demand fell 4.5% year-on-year for the week ending November 18, with a total 60.943 million barrels pumped in the period, according to data from MasterCard Advisors' weekly survey.
"As we close in on the Thanksgiving Day holiday, year-over-year declines in gasoline consumption continue to trend downward, posting a slightly more severe decline this past week than the previous week," gasoline analyst John Gamel said in weekly commentary.
"In week-to-week terms, gasoline consumption decreased by 1.0% for the week ending November 18th compared to the week ending November 11th, 2011," Gamel said.
A daily average 8.706 million barrels was consumed, MasterCard's SpendingPulse survey said. The four-week rolling average showed 61.158 million barrels was consumed, down 3.8% from the year-ago period.
On a year-on-year basis, New England saw the sharpest regional decline with a 6.4% fall, followed by the central Atlantic states with a 6.3% decline. The Gulf Coast saw a 3.2% decline and the West Coast a 3.7% decline in gasoline consumption, the survey said.
The average retail price of a gallon of regular gasoline was down 3 cents from a week ago at $3.40/gal, which is 18.1% higher than one year ago, MasterCard Advisors said.
MasterCard Advisors' estimate on retail gasoline demand is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, along with estimates for other payment forms, including cash and check.
