US gasoline demand plummets after Ike - MasterCard

NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline demand plunged last week in the wake of Hurricane Ike, with demand down more than 5 percent from the previous week, MasterCard Advisors said Tuesday.

"Almost the entire week-to-week decline came from the Gulf Coast States due to Hurricane Ike which hit Texas last Saturday September 13th," said Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis at MasterCard Advisors.

American motorists pumped an average of 8.726 million barrels per day in the week that ended Sept 19, MasterCard said in its weekly SpendingPulse report.

The U.S. Gulf Coast saw the biggest decline in gasoline demand, down 25 percent, but areas outside the Gulf Coast region saw declines in pumping as well, the report said.

"Gasoline shortages and a spike in prices also rippled through parts of the lower Atlantic and Midwest, which saw declines of 8.1 percent and 3.5 percent respectively," McNamara said.

Compared with the same week last year, gasoline demand fell by 7.6 percent and the four-week moving average for gasoline demand dropped 4.2 percent, according to MasterCard.

Gasoline prices shot up, with the nation-wide average up 18 cents to $3.84 a gallon.

"Prices rose 4.9 percent in one week, the largest increase since November 9th, 2007, when prices surpassed the $3.00 barrier," McNamara said.

Year-over-year, average gasoline prices are up 37.6 percent.

A Reuters poll showed energy analysts forecast that the Energy Information Administration would report a decline in U.S. gasoline inventories for the ninth week in a row in the aftermath of hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which shut refineries along the Gulf Coast's refinery row in Texas and Louisiana. [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. MasterCard Advisors is a unit of MasterCard Inc (MA.N). (Reporting by Rebekah Kebede)