2010 Gasoline Consumption

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released the December fuel numbers recently. With these numbers, all the months of 2010 can be added up to get a glimpse of what the years gasoline consumption will look like. Because of the fact that each months numbers were rounded to the nearest 1000 barrels, adding the monthly totals together compounds the rounding error. So the 2010 number should be considered preliminary until the EIA releases the year end totals. From looking at the EIA website it looks like they updated the annual totals last year in July.

Finished Motor Gasoline

2010 - 3,297,528,000 barrels x 42 = 138,496,176,000 gallons
2009 - 3,283,730,000 barrels x 42 = 137,916,660,000 gallons
2008 - 3,290,057,000 barrels x 42 = 138,182,394,000 gallons
2007 - 3,389,269,000 barrels x 42 = 142,349,298,000 gallons
2006 - 3,377,174,000 barrels x 42 = 141,841,308,000 gallons
2005 - 3,343,131,000 barrels x 42 = 140,411,502,000 gallons
2004 - 3,332,579,000 barrels x 42 = 139,968,318,000 gallons
2003 - 3,261,237,000 barrels x 42 = 136,971,954,000 gallons
2002 - 3,229,459,000 barrels x 42 = 135,637,278,000 gallons

After years of steady increases the amount of Finished Motor Gasoline consumed peaked in 2007.

The number that the EIA provides for Finished Motor Gasoline includes all the ethanol blended into the gasoline supply. So to get the number for just the amount of gasoline derived from petroleum that is consumed, the ethanol needs to be subtracted out.

Ethanol Used : Domestic Production + Imports (- Exports for 2010)

2010 - 12,844,096,457 gallons
2009 - 11,143,272,000 gallons
2008 - 9,838,374,000 gallons
2007 - 6,960,240,000 gallons
2006 - 5,615,484,000 gallons
2005 - 4,040,190,000 gallons
2004 - 3,551,142,000 gallons
2003 - 2,816,688,000 gallons
2002 - 2,153,004,000 gallons

In years past, ethanol exports were such a small number that they were never factored in. But in 2010 exports rose considerably, so the 2010 number includes subtracting out the exports.

Gasoline Used : Finished Motor Gasoline - Ethanol

2010 - 125,652,079,543 gallons
2009 - 126,773,388,000 gallons
2008 - 128,344,020,000 gallons
2007 - 135,389,058,000 gallons
2006 - 136,225,824,000 gallons
2005 - 136,371,312,000 gallons
2004 - 136,417,176,000 gallons
2003 - 134,155,266,000 gallons
2002 - 133,484,274,000 gallons

The amount of Finished Motor Gasoline consumed that is derived from petroleum peaked in 2004 and has been in steady decline ever since.

As we see in the 2010 numbers, the total amount of gasoline consumed went up but the portion of the gasoline supply that came from petroleum went down. This clearly shows that ethanol is adding to the fuel supply and helping to lower our dependence on petroleum.

Source : Energy Information Administration