Low oil prices have fueled airline buying in Europe this year, but higher regional refinery production and robust jet fuel imports have still outstripped demand, with tanks filling rapidly especially now that the peak summer demand season is over. The latest figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA) show OECD European jet fuel demand up 7.5% in the first six months of this year to nearly 26.6 million metric tons (almost 1.2 million barrels per day). IEA data shows European refinery production up an incredible 17.3% in the first half of 2015 to 18.5 million tons (804,000 b/d), reducing the region’s reliance on imports, which fell 4.9% to 8.7 million tons (379,000 b/d). Europe’s refiners have run flat-out this summer to meet booming US demand for gasoline with most prioritizing jet production over less profitable diesel (JFI Aug.24’15). Diesel has turned from a premium fuel in Europe to a cheap alternative to gasoline, with the region becoming a sink for sharply rising diesel production in Russia, the US, the Middle East and Asia. Jet imports were crowded out by higher regional production in the first half of the year, but seem to have recovered in recent months with the surplus filling up land tanks and starting to spill over into temporary floating storage (JFI Sep.14’15). Tanker trackers peg August arrivals at 2.4 million tons (614,000 b/d) with a further 1.9 million tons, at least, expected in September. Recent arrivals have included cargoes from countries that barely featured on the first-half league table of overseas jet suppliers, including China and Venezuela (JFI Jun.29’15).
展开▼
