Save for later Print Download Share LinkedIn Twitter Asia is facing a tense winter period where refiners need to step up runs to meet rising demand just as their costs are booming from rising natural gas and crude oil prices. Refinery maintenance is keeping product supply down while fuel switching from natural gas is boosting fuel oil demand and winter preparation is calling for more kerosene and gasoil for export to Europe. The picture is muddled. Refiners might delay a return from maintenance, as they do in Europe, if costs are too high. At the same time, demand for some products can be erratic, especially in China, amid factory closures due to natural gas shortages just as the country’s consumer demand keeps rising with Covid-19 mostly controlled. Asia’s product situation has drastically changed. Early September, demand was still sluggish with refiners contemplating temporary runs cuts.
