official nebraska government website

Motor Gasoline Consumption in Nebraska

Gasoline consumption is less than 1 percent lower than last year. As of November 2012, consumption for the year totaled 143,672,757 gallons while consumption during the same time period in 2011 totaled 143,998,618 gallons. Consumption for the month of November 2012 totaled 16,630,119 gallons, which was 45 percent higher than consumption in the same month in 2011. As shown in the graph below, November's consumption was 7 percent lower than consumption during the previous month.

Historical Years

In the fall of 2009, expectations for a record corn harvest came to fruition. Corn and ethanol prices felt the impact and were pushed lower. Even with the expectations and then the actual harvest record, annual consumption of motor gasoline for 2009 totaled 261,179,445 gallons, which was an 18–percent increase from 2008.

In 2008, increases in gasoline prices worked as an incentive for consumers to use an ethanol–blended fuel. Gasoline prices began to fall, but motorists did not immediately return to using 100–percent gasoline. The annual consumption for 2008 totaled 221,355,779 gallons, which was a 22–percent decrease from 2007.

Total gasoline consumption for 2007 was 285,501,195 gallons, which was a 24–percent decrease from 2006. Additional ethanol operating capacity had pushed ethanol prices lower, and gasoline prices had finally reached the level that people would no longer pay. Since 2001, total consumption had fallen over 50 percent.

Consumption increased from January to March of 2006 paralleling a reduction in ethanol–blended fuel consumption possibly due to the increase in the price of ethanol. Consumption numbers for April through November were contradicted by similar but opposite movements in ethanol–blended fuel consumption.

Gasoline consumption decreased significantly in 2005 from prior years. Increased availability and increased consumption of ethanol–blended fuel were likely factors in these reductions. Total consumption of gasoline and ethanol–blended fuel changed very little from 2000 to 2004 which indicates a shift in consumption of the individual fuels. The ethanol–blend market share is also a sign that there is an increase in ethanol–blend substitution for gasoline.

Indicators

Other indications that ethanol–blended fuels are being substituted for gasoline are both consumption and reported miles traveled during the driving season. The driving season is traditionally the months between the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends each year, so the months of June, July, and August usually have higher demand for transportation fuels. Gasoline consumption rose during June and July of 2006 and fell in August, September, October, and November. In contrast, ethanol–blended fuel consumption moved in an opposite direction than that of gasoline consumption and the number of reported miles traveled indicated very little difference from prior years.

Note: The motor gasoline data in this report includes the three grades of gasoline (regular unleaded, midgrade, and premium) but does not include the gallons of gasoline blended with ethanol.

Motor Gasoline Consumption in Nebraska
1993 – 2012

(Gallons)
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
Total
1993 25,927,206 30,993,030 36,613,664 39,062,905 44,080,715 50,836,900 47,853,973 49,942,745 46,182,565 45,934,123 43,863,911 47,439,019 508,730,756
1994 33,080,669 37,212,420 40,609,639 43,457,720 45,883,941 47,478,065 48,951,147 49,271,048 45,457,631 45,544,554 44,225,652 44,089,075 525,261,561
1995 45,122,982 41,451,395 46,823,884 44,627,850 53,672,389 59,084,853 52,678,333 51,986,038 48,504,232 50,769,230 47,087,667 45,694,444 587,503,297
1996 43,809,040 42,991,661 47,993,030 49,728,381 53,423,201 54,913,117 60,432,685 60,676,348 53,667,603 61,425,676 54,239,086 53,485,615 636,785,443
1997 47,623,484 41,932,440 49,460,939 49,258,585 55,340,811 55,011,328 61,408,229 57,128,629 53,466,585 54,702,090 51,198,191 53,355,754 629,887,065
1998 49,877,068 44,550,486 50,476,902 53,745,787 56,835,561 59,160,780 62,941,962 60,492,952 58,774,759 58,357,249 52,427,451 53,420,953 661,061,910
1999 45,558,944 43,807,562 47,662,249 53,841,734 58,133,400 60,822,874 61,604,805 59,022,350 53,650,716 51,078,587 46,022,771 50,826,650 632,032,642
2000 39,012,661 39,689,772 35,739,563 38,642,639 50,554,916 48,521,197 48,566,109 52,822,523 48,459,614 45,870,268 44,548,244 48,973,013 541,400,519
2001 43,070,432 42,473,951 46,666,702 42,176,394 46,718,177 52,205,316 55,975,912 58,882,072 49,917,150 53,927,386 51,760,607 47,921,333 591,695,432
2002 43,755,604 39,239,067 39,001,797 41,311,177 46,945,070 43,717,821 50,376,934 49,661,983 43,467,388 44,348,123 40,471,002 42,794,684 525,090,650
2003 39,141,742 30,509,121 33,451,448 33,838,082 42,416,892 41,365,305 45,494,902 44,170,322 39,514,981 40,305,555 39,709,565 48,132,797 478,050,712
2004 39,220,837 31,043,912 34,582,160 39,175,151 37,184,642 41,781,093 41,543,466 38,787,647 36,465,540 36,163,182 35,691,388 40,593,604 452,232,622
2005 27,981,174 25,012,389 28,085,688 20,594,304 22,834,098 24,661,341 25,268,221 26,124,727 23,728,503 26,402,673 27,050,376 24,960,950 302,704,444
2006 21,121,181 24,350,364 36,281,436 28,542,602 32,207,120 52,451,585 54,259,345 22,927,616 25,570,533 26,475,027 24,357,853 26,465,459 375,010,121
2007 34,874,714 25,999,563 27,002,740 24,112,078 23,350,087 23,613,245 24,188,034 25,104,053 21,737,936 21,413,744 18,742,336 15,362,665 285,501,195
2008 17,641,682 17,105,419 16,330,087 16,688,029 15,764,075 16,706,306 14,261,197 19,333,590 12,317,086 15,310,329 26,275,806 33,622,173 221,355,779
2009 26,905,313 23,557,375 21,406,190 16,604,826 24,073,654 22,090,385 26,205,491 22,108,277 21,070,815 20,339,586 18,650,427 18,203,974 261,179,445
2010 16,084,980 16,172,773 18,127,196 18,957,174 17,526,312 21,676,338 18,245,432 17,821,243 17,189,346 12,102,827 18,234,738 10,599,515 202,737,874
2011 11,295,822 10,362,424 9,552,824 11,936,679 14,212,085 14,360,748 17,642,960 17,285,421 10,142,940 15,718,172 11,488,543 15,718,507 159,717,125
2012 14,799,700 7,398,087 10,630,320 8,591,952 14,058,317 13,108,943 19,121,646 10,387,720 11,074,125 17,871,828 16,630,119 NA NA

Source: "Monthly Motor–Fuel Consumption." Nebraska Department of Revenue, Motor Fuels Division, Lincoln, NE.

Notes: The numbers are net volume numbers which exclude motor fuel for aviation use, non–highway agricultural use, and industrial use. NA indicates data is not available. Numbers in red have been revised.

This table was updated on February 27, 2013. Typically, there is one month between updates.