The world turned upside-down: is Asia the new Europe?

摘要

Everyone knows by now that global economic growth will be centered on Asia in the coming years, while the glory days of Europe's economy-and especially its refining industry-are clearly a thing of the past. Of late however, while European refiners have seen surprisingly strong margins in recent weeks, their Asian counterparts have seen their margins simply evaporate. Sources report that the Singapore cracking margin-which as a proxy for regional margins estimates the profits of a hypothetical plant in Singapore processing Dubai crude-fell to 24￠/bbl on July 8. According to Platts data the Singapore cracking margin has remained below $l/bbl since May 30, and averaged $1.917/bbl in H1 2014, the lowest average since H1 2010.