Market Trends of United States Oil And Gas Downstream Industry
Refining Sector to Register a Modest Growth
- The United States has been witnessing growing energy demand in recent days. This growth in demand can be attributed to the growing population and an improvement in living standards in the developed states. Even though new and renewable energy sources are gaining popularity around the country, petroleum fuel remains a major energy source globally. This trend is expected to continue for the next few decades and benefit all sectors of the petroleum industry.
- Increasing industrial activity and economic growth are likely to support the refining industry. In developed states such as Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Minnesota, the demand for diesel and other distillates is expected to be robust in the coming years. This demand growth can be attributed to the strong refinery industry in these countries.
- The United States Gulf Coast region is expected to witness a fresh wave of investment in the downstream business during the forecast period. In addition, the United States' shale production has almost doubled since the shale revolution started and is expected to increase further.
- As of 2023, the refining capacity of the United States stood at 18.42 million barrels per day. With continuous investments and high competition, the refining throughput of the United States increased at a rate of 2% in 2023.
- As of 2023, there were 132 operable petroleum refineries in the United States. The newest refinery in the United States is the Texas International Terminals 45,000 b/cd refinery in Channelview, Texas, which was operable on January 1, 2022, but actually started operating in February 2022.
- In the June 2024, Element Fuels Holdings proposed to build a refinery with a capacity of around 50,000 to 55,000 barrels per day. The company estimatewd to have an investment of around USD 1.2 billion in the initial phase of development.
- Apart from such projects, demand for oil in the country is increasing over the years. For instance, in 2023, the oil demand increased by nearly 1% to around 20.36 thousand barrels per day. Similarly, in the previous year, the country witnessed growth in oil demand.
- Hence, increased in oil demand, along with upcoming investment in the refining sector is expected to have a moderate growth in the forecast period.
Understand The Key Trends Shaping This Market
Download PDF
Increasing Demand for Petroleum Products
- Petroleum includes refined petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, unfinished oils, and other liquids, such as fuel ethanol, blending components for gasoline, and other refinery inputs.
- The United States produces a large share of the petroleum it consumes, but the country still relies on imports to meet the increasing demand. Imports from other countries help to meet the domestic demand for petroleum. According to the Energy Information Agency, in 2023, the country imported 8526 thousand barrels per day of crude oil and products, an increase of around 2.3% as compared to the previous year.
- Among all, 61338 thousand barrel of petrolume producst were imported. 3670 thousand barrels were natural gas liquids, 3294 thousand barrels were finished motor gasoline, and rest were kerosene, fuel oil, diesel fuel, etc.
- In addition to imports, the country is continously increasing its petroleum products output. In 2023, petroleum products output increased to 19.43 million barrels per day, from 19.39 million barrels per day in 2022. Further, in the upcoming years, the demand for petroleum products are likley to increase due to increasing consumption in sectors like transportation, and industries.
- In 2023, the United States witnessed increased in sales of passenger vahicles by around 9%. From 2.85 million in 2022, the passenger vehicle sales increased to 3.11 million in 2023. With increase in population, and income, sales of such vehicles are likley to increase, thus increasing demand for petroleum products in the country.
- In addition, aviation and railway are another two transportation industry, expantion of which is further likely to increase consumption of petrioleum products.
- Hence, such a scenario is expected to drive the United States oil and gas downstream market in the upcoming years.
