Stocks end 2020 well up on year earlier

摘要

Onshore stocks of crude and products in the US, EU 16 and Japan fell by almost 45mn bl in December from a month earlier, but the Covid-19 pandemic left stocks nearly 130mn bl up on the year at the end of the month. Product stocks accounted for 70mn bl of the surplus that built up over the year, with much of the overhang accumulating in Europe, where widespread Covid-19 lockdowns took a wrecking ball to demand, particularly in the transport sector. As of December, global demand was still approximately 5mn b/d down on where it was a year earlier. While gasoline and fuel oil stocks built earlier in the year, these were largely drawn down by the end of 2020, and by December distil-lates accounted for the entirety of the products overhang. Gasoline stocks ended the year lower than where they stood a year earlier.