Rising oil prices have begun to curb demand for refined products in the
US, with the total supply of products falling by almost 2% in October, the
American Petroleum Institute said Wednesday.

API, in its October monthly report, said total products supplied averaged
21.897 million b/d last month, down 1.7% from 22.275 million b/d in October
2006.

"Higher prices appear to have tempered demand," API statistics manager
Ron Planting said in a statement accompanying the report.

Demand for distillate fuel oil fell to 4.174 million b/d last month, down
3.3% from 4.315 million b/d a year ago, according to API.

API said gasoline demand averaged 9.351 million b/d in October, up a
"modest" 0.9% from the year-ago month. According to figures from the US Energy
Information Administration, US retail gasoline prices rose more than 8
cents/gal during October.

On a year-to-date basis, gasoline demand was 9.322 million b/d through
October, up 0.8% from 9.245 million b/d for the same period in 2006.

--Kevin Saville, kevin_saville@platts.com