By Shariq Khan and Seher Dareen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. refineries pumped out jet fuel last week at the fastest pace since the pandemic, government data showed, as they appear to keep up with forecasts of record air travel this summer.
Net production of jet fuel by U.S. refineries last week was about 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd), up 8% from the same period last year and the highest weekly total since January 2020, data from U.S. Energy Information showed on Thursday Administration.
Government agencies and travel companies are preparing for record numbers of passengers at airports over the summer, pushing jet fuel consumption above pre-pandemic peaks for the first time. Motoring group AAA expects a record number of 5.74 million people will fly to their destinations around the July 4 holiday.
Global jet fuel demand has now surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time, according to a JPMorgan analysis published Thursday.
The four-week average U.S. jet fuel demand of 1.75 million barrels per day over the past week was also the highest since 2019 for this period, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Higher refinery production should help keep the market sufficiently supplied to meet the expected surge in holiday demand, said Matias Togni, founder of energy research firm Galpon Shipping & Trading.
US refineries have added more than 2 million barrels of jet fuel to their inventories since the start of the year. That brought inventories to 41.95 million barrels as of June 14, 2% higher than last year and in line with the seasonal average of the past five years.
Domestic airfares around the July 4 holiday are down 2% from last year, AAA noted, even as the flight tracker Airportia showed the total number of U.S. flights up 1% from last year.
Airportia tracked 30,264 U.S. flights on Thursday, up 7.2% from the same time last year.
