U.S. consumption of refined petroleum products increased from 17.2 million barrels per day in 1993 to 18.6 million barrels per day in 1997 and 18.4 million barrels per day during January- June 1998, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission in its publication Industry and Trade Summary: Refined Petroleum Products.

U.S. production satisfies most of domestic demand for refined petroleum products, with imports accounting for an average of 11 percent of annual consumption, according to the report.

The ITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, recently released the report as part of an ongoing series of reports on the thousands of products imported into and exported from the United States. Following are other highlights of the report:

• The U.S. refined petroleum products industry is a globalized industry with U.S. companies having holdings throughout the world and foreign petroleum companies operating wholly owned subsidiaries or joint ventures in the United States. There are 165 operating refineries in the United States with the total capacity to refine 15.4 million barrels of crude petroleum per day.

• The primary product produced in U.S. refineries is finished motor fuels, followed by distillate and residual fuel oils. U.S. production of these products increased from 17.8 million barrels per day in 1993 to 18.9 million barrels per day in 1997; production has averaged 18.8 million barrels per day during January-June 1998. U.S. refinery utilization rates increased to more than 94 percent in 1997.

• As a major world consumer of refined petroleum products, the United States is a net importer of these products and accounts for less than 6 percent of the world's exports. The United States relies primarily upon Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Nigeria, and Canada to supplement domestic production. U.S. imports of these products have remained relatively stable during 1993-97 and during January-June 1998.

• As of January 1, 1998, there were 702 operating refineries in the world with most of the new distillation capacity in the Latin American and Caribbean nations, the Middle East, and the Asia/Pacific region. World demand for refined petroleum products is forecast to increase by 11 million barrels per day by 2002, with the bulk of the demand in these regions. Prospects for joint ventures also appear to be greatest in these regions as many have begun or are planning for the displacement of dirtier fuels with cleaner burning gasoline and diesel fuel.

The foregoing information is from the ITC report Industry and Trade Summary: Refined Petroleum Products (USITC Publication 3147, December 1998).

ITC Industry and Trade Summary reports include information on product uses, U.S. and foreign producers, and tariff treatment of the products being studied; they analyze the basic factors affecting trends in consumption, production, and trade of the commodities, as well as factors bearing on the competitiveness of the U.S. industry in domestic and foreign markets.

This report will be available on the ITC's Internet server at http://www.usitc.gov. A printed copy may be requested by calling 202-205-1809 or by writing the Office of the Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E St., SW, Washington, DC 20436. Requests may be faxed to 202-205-2104.