The retail price of US petrol has declined every day for the past nine weeks, a fact visible to motorists on signs at gas stations. Less apparent is another trend: those motorists appear to be driving less.
Weakening petrol consumption in the world’s largest consumer may be a reaction to record prices set in June above $5 a gallon. It would also be consistent with the reported slowdown in the US economy. If confirmed, it would help to loosen the global crude oil market, which has retreated close to where it traded before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Measuring US fuel consumption in real time is tricky, but several information sources point to it levelling off or declining in comparison with previous summer “driving seasons”.