Washington, Jul 21 (IANS): The overall petroleum demand in the US slipped again in June after edging up in May -- the only month witnessing year-on-year monthly increase in the first half of the year, said a leading industry group in a report.

The total petroleum deliveries, a measure of demand, fell 3 percent to 18.691 million barrels per day in June compared with that a year ago, said the American Petroleum Institute (API) Friday in its monthly statistical report.

It resumed the declining trend of petroleum demand and helped push down the demand in the first six months of 2012 by 2.6 percent compared with the same period of last year, reported Xinhua.

In June, gasoline deliveries went down to 8.821 million barrels per day, declining 2.5 percent than a year ago. For the first two quarters, it was down 1 percent in comparison with the same period last year.

"A weakening economy requires less fuel," said API chief economist John Felmy. "The fall in demand in June is particularly notable and consistent with other disappointing metrics in the economy, including falling retail sales and contraction in the manufacturing sector."

On the other side, supplies were ample. US domestic crude oil production in June increased by 1.2 percent from May and 10.7 percent from June a year ago to an average of 6.2 million barrels per day, which was the highest level for the month of June since 1998.

The increase in domestic production also indicated less dependence on import. In June, imports of crude oil and refined products fell by 6 percent to an average of 10.9 million barrels per day. Imports as a percentage of total domestic petroleum deliveries ticked down to 58.5 percent from 60.3 percent in June 2011.