Oil Refiners Increase Gasoline Output, an Industrial Info Market Brief

April and May saw unprecedented oil demand destruction worldwide. But as the major economies emerge from this period, petroleum consumption is slowly gaining ground, albeit with an uneven demand for gasoline versus jet fuel or diesel. Generally, this can be attributed to the following:

• Lockdowns resulting in closed businesses, as well as restrictions on personal mobility. The biggest impact is on gasoline, the dominant motor fuel worldwide (except Europe). But as most countries are now easing up, the world is seeing a big increase in mobility and gasoline consumption.
• Voluntary behavior changes, as people avoided crowded environments such as mass transit systems and passenger aircraft, resulted in jet fuel demand destruction. Jet fuel is not expected to rebound strongly, even before the end of 2020.
• The pandemic has triggered a business cycle downturn, as consumers and companies respond to lower incomes and sales. This hit diesel significantly hard, as diesel is the most common fuel used by manufacturing companies and freight transportation. As the degree of normalization for gasoline is greater now compared to diesel and jet fuel, refineries are now ramping up their crude throughput to meet the demand for gasoline by shifting towards light distillates.

Click here for a list of projects in the global Petroleum Refining Industry that have been delayed or otherwise affected by COVID-19 precautions, but are slated to begin construction before the end of the year. See graph below for a breakdown by country.