dpb wrote:
dpb wrote:
...
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/wrpupus2w.htm

There has been roughly a 1.5%/yr increase in total petroleum products
supplied (which equates to usage as very little percentage-wise is
stored long term) over the period from 1991 thru 2007; ...

Intended to make an additional note--the above link has weekly data
plotted--if select the 4-wk average, the weekly variations are smoothed
significantly and the effects on demand of the economic contraction
following 9/11 are vividly evident as is the shorter downturn at the
beginning of 2000.

One last note on these data...any conclusion that demand has tapered off
over the last several years could only be drawn by blindly looking at
the numbers pre- and post- 9/11. If only the values were in front of
one, it's possible one might draw a conclusion to that effect, but the
graph clearly shows what happened was a significant retraction over the
period of roughly a year or so after which the growth was again at
essentially the same rate as previously.

This continued until a new peak demand was reached in the 2006/07 time
frame and has since tapered off owing to the high prices and associated
economic slowdown.

Really quite a revealing graph...

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