US weekly gasoline demand dips yr/yr -MasterCard

NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline demand last week dropped 1.6 percent from a year earlier, but inched up from the prior week, as the price at the pump rose 13 cents a gallon, MasterCard Advisors said on Tuesday.

"High gasoline prices are depressing the normal seasonal lift in gasoline consumption," said Michael McNamara, vice president of MasterCard Advisors.

"As the peak driving season approaches, demand for gasoline increases, yet it has generally not increased as much compared to previous years," McNamara said.

Year to date, gasoline consumption is half a percent lower than it was in 2007, McNamara said.

The average retail price of gasoline climbed 13 cents to $3.55 per gallon, the highest level recorded by the MasterCard report.

Sluggish growth in the U.S. economy is another reason for weak demand compared to previous years, McNamara added.

Motorists pumped an average of 9.388 million barrels per day in the week that ended April 25. That was up 0.8 percent from the previous week but down 1.6 percent from the same week last year.

The four-week moving average for gasoline demand was down for the eleventh week in a row, dropping by 1.5 percent from last year, the report said.

A Reuters poll of energy analysts showed that they expect the U.S. Energy Information Administration report on nationwide fuel inventories on Wednesday to show that U.S. gasoline stocks fell for the seventh consecutive week.

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: Quote, Profile, Research). (Reporting by Rebekah Kebede; Editing by David Gregorio)