“Davidson” submits:
US Petroleum Consumption was ~17.6mil BBL/Day in early March 2020 prior to COVID-19. Currently rising to 15.9mil BBL/Day represents a recovery to 90% of previous consumption levels and a sign of decent economic recovery. Not part of the EIA data is inventory stored in service stations which likely stopped taking deliveries during the depths of April not knowing what the pace of future demand would look like. Letting service station inventories decline likely caused analysts to signal huge economic declines. Now with road traffic rising, gasoline demand is likely higher than actual consumption as service stations replenish tanks for summer driving.
Even with information on inventories vs demand being imperfect, recovery is certainly on the way. Consumption is a good measure of economic activity and it appears we are much further along in the current recovery than many believe.
