UPDATE: Total Executive: Europe, US Gasoline Demand To Fall

Gasoline demand in Europe and the U.S. is expected to fall through to 2020 in the wake of the global economic slowdown, said an executive of French oil major Total SA (TOT) Monday.

"We are quite convinced at Total that in both regions the consumption will decrease very sharply until 2015 and 2020," André Tricoire, senior vice president of refining, said.

Speaking at Platts's European Refining Markets conference in Brussels, Tricoire said the decline in gasoline demand is one of the biggest threats to European refiners, who are heavily reliant on gasoline exports to the U.S.

Climate change legislation, particularly in the U.S., could further discourage gasoline consumption, he added.

Excess refining capacity is expected to pressure refining margins in the short and medium term, he added, even though Total estimates that only 40% of announced new refinery projects will come online in the coming years.

Earlier this month, Total said it would shut its entire 137,000-barrel-a-day Dunkirk refinery in northern France in response to weak demand and sluggish refining margins.

Total also halted a crude distillation unit at its 331,000-barrel-a-day Normandy refinery in August due to weak refining economics.

-By Lananh Nguyen, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail] (Adam Mitchell in Paris contributed to this report.)