SACRAMENTO – Betty T. Yee, chairwoman of the Board of Equalization (BOE), has released gasoline and diesel consumption figures for California for December and the fourth quarter of 2009.

Gasoline consumption declined 2.2 percent in December and declined 1.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the same month and quarter in 2008.

Diesel consumption increased 3.7 percent in December, the first monthly increase since February 2008. In the fourth quarter diesel consumption declined 3.9 percent compared to the same period in 2008.

“The fourth quarter decline in diesel consumption is the smallest decline since early 2008, and it provides some evidence that the economy is slowly improving,” said Chairwoman Yee.

For all of 2009, California gas consumption declined 1.5 percent, compared to a 4.1 percent decrease for all four quarters of 2008.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, Californians used 61.4 million gallons of gasoline less than the fourth quarter 2008, which is a decline of 1.7 percent.

In December 2009, gasoline demand declined 2.2 percent when Californians used 1.237 billion gallons of gasoline compared to 1.265 billion gallons the same month in 2008. The average California gasoline price at the pump in December was $2.96 per gallon compared to $1.87 in December 2008, a 58.3 percent increase.

Gasoline sold in December generated approximately $306 million in sales tax during that month, an estimated $131 million more than generated last year.

December sales and use tax revenues from gasoline would have been about $34 million less had the state portion of the sales and use tax not increased by one percent on April 1, 2009.

Diesel fuel sold in California during December totaled 232 million gallons compared to the previous year total of 223 million gallons, which is an increase of 3.7 percent.

California diesel prices were $2.91 per gallon in December 2009 an increase of 23.8 percent compared to December 2008 when the average diesel price was $2.35 per gallon.

Diesel consumption in California declined 3.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 when Californians used a total of 654 million gallons of diesel compared to the fourth quarter of 2008 when Californians used a total of 680 million gallons. This decline is much less than the 10.6 percent decline in the third quarter.

The BOE is able to monitor gallons through tax receipts paid by fuel distributors. Figures for January 2010 are scheduled to be available at the end of April 2010. All monthly, quarterly, and annual figures can be viewed at: www.boe.ca.gov/sptaxprog/spftrpts.htm .