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Gasoline Consumption in the U.S.

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The last time you paid at the pump, you may have wondered how the price of gas is determined. What are the factors that go into the decision to raise and lower the prices? Well, there are several different things that are considered when making this decision, but first, let's take a look at just how crucial gasoline is to the American way of life.

Americans today travel approximately 2.5 trillion miles per year in automobiles, light trucks, and SUVs, which is almost twice as many miles as was driven in 1980. That's enough miles to travel back and forth from the sun 14,000 times! Obviously, gas is essential to that process, making it a highly valuable commodity for today's American. Without gasoline, our nation would be crippled. With the growing trend to drive big vehicles, such as SUVs, the United States' consumption of gasoline is at an all time high. On average, the United States consumes about 20 millions barrels of oil per day, with 45 percent of that being used for motor gasoline. The rest is used for distillate fuel oil, jet fuel, residual fuel, and other oils. Each barrel contains 42 gallons of oil, which is converted to about 19 or 20 gallons of gasoline. The United States consumes about 178 million gallons of gas every day.

Typically, gas prices go up in the summer due to the higher demand for it. We usually see a spike around the holidays, such as Memorial Day and Fourth of July, since people are traveling more. However, during the summer of 2001, gas prices rose dramatically, and then declined again over the summer. During the summer of 2004, prices rose through the summer and continued to rise into the fall, a result of the hurricanes and the increasing price of crude oil. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit, and crude oil prices continued to rise, leaving Americans to pay a hefty price at the pump--$3.07 a gallon on average. Prices dropped somewhat over the winter, but now (May 2006) they are climbing steadily again.

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