Refined Oil Market Boomed on International Crude Oil Price Increase
SCI reckons that the refined oil market boom was supported by multiple bullish factors. The first factor was the international crude oil price growth. The U.S. issued various policies to stimulate its economic development, supporting the future crude oil demand expectation. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Iraq sticked to their crude oil output reduction plans, supporting the crude oil prices from the supply side. The second factor was the growing diesel consumption volume after Chinese New Year. Actually, China’s diesel consumption volume has been gradually improving from since H2, 2020. In Q1, 2021, the revival of spring ploughing and infrastructural constructions, etc. performed better from last year, and most participants adopted an optimistic attitude toward the future diesel demand. In contrast, most traders and downstream users had replenished their gasoline inventory intensively before Chinese New Year holiday, so the gasoline increase was mainly supported by international crude oil price growth.
