Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. gasoline use fell 3 percent last week as the U.S. recession reduced demand, a MasterCard Inc. report today showed.

Motorists bought an average 9.407 million barrels of gasoline a day in the week ended Dec. 19, down from 9.703 million a year earlier, MasterCard, the second-biggest credit- card company, said in its weekly SpendingPulse report.

Demand has been lower than last year every week except one since April 18. Gasoline use 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 in the week ended Aug. 17.

U.S. gasoline consumption last week was 3.4 percent higher than the previous week.

The national average pump price for regular gasoline fell 1 cent to $1.66 a gallon from the prior week, MasterCard said. Prices have dropped 44 percent from $2.98 a year ago.

The record high in the MasterCard report is $4.10 in the week ended July 18.

The U.S. Energy Department said the average pump price was $1.653 a gallon in the week ended yesterday. AAA, the nation’s biggest motoring group, said on its Web site today that the average price is $1.659 a gallon.

Today’s 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: December 23, 2008 14:00 EST