Total U.S. petroleum deliveries fell from January through October at a rate not seen since the recession years of the early 1980s.

Deliveries dropped 5 percent over that period. October deliveries alone fell 4 percent.

A report released Wednesday by the American Petroleum Institute also said total domestic deliveries — a measure of demand — averaged just 19.6 million barrels per day for the January-to-October period for the lowest average since 2000.

API statistics manager Ron Planting blamed high gas prices during much of 2008 and economic uncertainty for putting a “damper on demand.”

However, falling gas prices at the pump may alter that trend.

Americans used about 100,000 more barrels of gas a day last week than they did the previous week, according to a MasterCard Spending Pulse report.