Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. gasoline demand dropped 4.7 percent last week, the 23rd consecutive decline, as consumers drove less after Hurricane Ike disrupted supplies, a MasterCard Inc. report today showed.

Motorists bought an average 9.083 million barrels of gasoline a day in the week ended Sept. 26, down from 9.526 million a year earlier, MasterCard, the second-biggest credit- card company, said in its weekly SpendingPulse report.

``The Gulf Coast hurricane disrupted supplies so there was not gasoline to pump in parts of the country, and there was bad weather on the East Coast last Friday,'' said Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis for MasterCard Advisors.

Demand fell the most in the Central Atlantic region, from New York south to Maryland, where motor fuel use dropped 8 percent, McNamara said.

Fuel consumption in the U.S. was 4.1 percent higher than the prior week. Demand for the year is down 2.8 percent from a year earlier, the report showed.

Demand destruction was less severe last week than in the week ended Sept. 19, when daily use fell 7.6 percent to a 20- month low of 8.726 million barrels after Hurricane Ike slammed the Texas Gulf Coast, shutting refineries and filling stations.

Gasoline demand this year peaked at 9.65 million barrels a day in the week ended Aug. 1, 5.9 percent below the 2007 maximum of 10.25 million barrels a day in the week ended Aug. 17.

The last time fuel use increased from a year earlier was the week ended April 18.

The national average pump price for regular gasoline was $3.83 a gallon, down 1 cent from the prior week, MasterCard said. The price touched a record $4.10 the week ended July 18.

The report from Purchase, New York-based MasterCard was assembled by MasterCard Advisors, the company's consulting arm. The data is based on credit card swipes and cash and check payments at about 140,000 U.S. gasoline stations.

Visa Inc. is the biggest credit card company by transactions processed.

To contact the reporter on this story: Barbara Powell in Dallas at Bpowell4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 30, 2008 14:02 EDT