Liam Denning, Columnist

These Aren't the Oil Barrels You're Looking For

A headline surge in U.S consumption obscures flagging gasoline demand.

May 1, 2018 at 3:12 PM UTC

Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy. A former banker, he edited the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column and wrote the Financial Times’s Lex column.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ: A worker at the Dura oil refinery, on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, fills a barrel 26 January 2004. Iraq's former dictator Saddam Hussein rewarded 200 of his leading supporters abroad by giving them millions of barrels of crude oil, government officials said 25 January. Oil ministry undersecretary Abdul Sahib Salman Qotob told AFP the supporters included at least two prime ministers and two foreign ministers, as well as high profile politicians and political parties. Journalists and the sons of ministers and heads of states across four continents were also among recipients. AFP PHOTO/Karim SAHIB (Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images)Photographer: KARIM SAHIB/AFP

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It’s official: U.S. oil demand increased almost half-a-million barrels a day in February. Except, on the other hand, it didn’t quite do that.

The Energy Information Administration just released its monthly estimates of U.S. oil supply and demand, which come with a time-lag. They show consumption of 19.62 million barrels a day in February, up 460,000 barrels from February 2017. If you’re an oil bull, 2.4 percent growth in the biggest market on the planet is pretty encouraging.