Air, Land and Sea: Resurgent oil demand?

As the world prepares for a potential exit from the COVID-19 pandemic, the seaborne energy market is examining how to rebalance oil markets and what needs to be done to facilitate a speedy recovery.

Vortexa CEO Fabio Kuhn joined Bloomberg’s IP Week panel discussion to discuss what demand recovery might look like across the commodities ecosystem in 2021. The panel industry experts included Roger Brown (VARO Energy), Natasha Kaneva (JP Morgan), Giovanni Serio (Vitol) and Alix Steel (Bloomberg). Together they explored a multi-phase recovery across geographies and the wider refining complex.

The webinar focused on four critical areas:

• Where did we end up in terms of Oil demand destruction by the end of 2020 and can some of the rebound we saw through the latter half of the year provide signposts for what to expect in 2021?
• With robust economic growth expected for much of Asia, Europe and North America, will resurgent demand of Gasoil and Gasoline be undone by continued depressed interest in air travel?
• As complex refinery margins remain below pre-pandemic levels, what are the prospects for through-put in 2021, dislocation of product output, and further consolidation of older units?
• What insights can be gleaned from near real-tracking of product flows within and between regions globally?