US retail gasoline demand year-to-date down 1 pct-MasterCard

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline demand year-to-date declined 1 percent from the same time last year as prices for the fuel continued to rise, MasterCard Advisors said Tuesday.

"We've never seen prices at this level. It really seems that it's had a material impact on consumers' driving patterns," said Michael McNamara, vice president of MasterCard Advisors.

Motorists pumped an average of 9.091 million barrels per day in the week that ended May 9. That was down 7 percent from the year-ago level.

Weekly gasoline demand dipped 0.6 percent from the previous week.

Such drops are unusual for the spring season, when demand usually begins ramping up ahead of the peak summer driving season, McNamara noted, but high prices kept a lid on demand.

The average retail price of gasoline climbed another 3 cents to $3.64 per gallon, according to the MasterCard report.

And gasoline prices should continue to climb as long as crude oil prices stay high, McNamara said, pointing out that U.S. crude oil futures hit another high of $126.98 per barrel earlier on Tuesday.

The four-week average retail gasoline demand was down 3 percent year-over-year at 9.236 million barrels.

Meanwhile, in a Reuters poll, energy analysts forecast the Energy Information Administration would report a slight increase in domestic gasoline stocks when it releases on Wednesday its data on nationwide fuel inventories for the week to May 9.

MasterCard Advisors estimates retail gasoline demand based on aggregate sales in the MasterCard payments system, coupled with estimates for all other payment forms. MasterCard Advisors is a unit of MasterCard Inc (MA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). (Reporting by Rebekah Kebede; Editing by John Picinich)