[jeffrey]

All indications are that higher gas prices have led Americans to cut their gasoline use. According to the latest U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) weekly petroleum report, gasoline consumption has dropped 3.3% from last year. Consumption for the past four weeks averaged 8.8 million barrels a day as opposed to 9.1 million barrels each day a year ago.

To further emphasize that consumers have been cutting back, gasoline inventories are on the rise instead of in decline. According to the EIA report, gasoline inventories rose 4.4 million barrels last week. This despite the fact that much of the Gulf of Mexico energy operations were still out of service due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.




If these reports hold true in the coming weeks and aren't a short time phenomenon, they will trump what many experts and automakers had believed. Many had predicted that to get consumers to drive less would require a combination of an extended period of $3 a gallon gasoline coupled with gasoline shortages.