increased gasoline production

U.S. finished gasoline production in 2007 reached an all-time high (9.0 million barrels per day), over 500,000 barrels per day higher than in 2003 (8.5 million barrels per day).

• Americans are driving more. Gasoline consumption in the U.S. averaged a record high of approximately 9.3 million barrels per day in 2007, up about 0.5 percent from 2006 levels.
• The industry has increased refining capacity through the expansion of existing plants, adding the equivalent of a large new refinery every year for the past decade. Capacity has expanded over the past two years by 300,000 barrels a day, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
• ExxonMobil has expanded U.S. refining capacity at a rate that is 50 percent greater than the industry at large from 1997 to 2006.