US gasoline demand up,price below $2:SpendingPulse

NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline demand rose last week as the average price for gasoline dropped below $2 per gallon, according to a MasterCard report released on Tuesday.

"We are continuing to see a significant lift from where we were three, four weeks ago in terms of where pumping is. It has pretty much coincided with prices continuing to fall," said Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis at MasterCard Advisors.

American motorists pumped an average of 9.359 million barrels per day in the week that ended Nov. 28, up 1.7 percent from the previous week as average gasoline prices dropped 16 cents to $1.85 per gallon, the SpendingPulse report by MasterCard showed.

The average price for gasoline, which has been well above year-ago levels for much of the year, is now 40.1 percent lower than it was one year ago, according to the report.

Gasoline demand was 0.3 percent below year-ago levels, but McNamara said the Thanksgiving holiday skewed the year-on-year comparisons because the comparable week last year was actually the week after Thanksgiving.

The four-week moving average for gasoline demand dropped 2.1 percent from year-ago levels.

The one region that was the exception to the rule was the West Coast, where demand was down 4 percent as gasoline prices remain comparatively high at an average of $2.08 per gallon.

"The economic pressures in some ways are a little bit more acute in some ways out there," McNamara said.

A Reuters poll showed energy analysts believe that the Energy Information Administration will report weekly gasoline stocks rose 900,000 barrels due to lower demand levels. [EIA/S]

MasterCard Advisors estimates retail gasoline demand based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments system coupled with estimates for all other payment forms including cash and checks. MasterCard Advisors is a unit of MasterCard Inc (MA.N). (Reporting by Rebekah Kebede; Editing by Christian Wiessner)