Before oil was king

Old documents chart the rapid expansion of the crude industry in Texas.

U.S. refineries are producing record levels of gasoline, even as U.S. demand for gasoline sinks, stockpiles build and prices drop.

Refineries were processing an average of 17.7 million barrels of gasoline per day for the week ending May 26, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That fell to 17.5 million barrels per day the next week, then rose again to 17.6 million barrels for the week ending June 9.

“In the U.S., we’re refining like crazy,” said Jamie Webster, senior director at Boston Consulting Group’s Center for Energy Impact in Washington .“We’ re refining a whole lot more, and there aren’t as many mouths to feed because demand isn’t as strong this year.”

Gasoline demand has run consistently below last year, even as prices have dropped and the summer driving season gets underway. The Energy Department reported that gasoline consumption over the past four weeks was nearly 2 percent below the same period last year.

Gasoline prices, meanwhile, are at their lowest level in more than a decade. A week ago in Houston, average prices tumbled 5 cents a gallon to $2.09 a gallon, 3 cents a gallon below last year, according to GasBuddy.com, a website that tracks gasoline prices and refining activity.

Since 1990, weekly U.S. refinery runs have exceeded 17 million barrels per day only 24 times. And all 24 have come since July 2015, as companies, in the midst of the U.S. oil price crash, sought to off load crude.

Product stockpiles, meanwhile, remain high. Totals for the first week of June were nearly 83 million barrels higher than the five-year average, though they were about 3 million barrels lower than last year.