Coronavirus was a distant concern for us in Latin America back in February. Higher infection rates in colder weather made the idea of COVID-19 even harder to grasp as a threat. Life continued as normal, and the pandemic felt a
Lower demand for refined products, sparked by quarantine measures and limited onshore storage capacity are leading to a glut building offshore several Mexican ports. Some vessels are waiting for more than a week to offload. Based on information from Onexpo,
Brazil is maintaining both strong imports of gasoline and oil exports despite lower domestic demand and oil production cuts. Yet, exports of fuel oil have been hit by the global economic slowdown of recent months. Meanwhile, coronavirus cases in the
The economies of both Colombia and Ecuador face significant headwinds as oil prices remain depressed and the coronavirus spreads through the region. Colombian crude oil exports have rebounded so far this year, after averaging 582,000 barrels per day in 2019.
Brazilian crude exports to Europe are ticking higher so far this year as appetite for heavy grades stands strong following the new regulation on marine fuels, known as IMO 2020. Brazilian loadings bound for Europe have been kicking higher so
Despite OPEC+ likely to agree to a substantial new production cut tomorrow, oil prices have followed equity markets lower on ongoing coronavirus fears, with Brent down 2.2% to $49.99/bbl, while WTI dropped 1.9% to $45.90/bbl.
Olefin and feedstock offtake plummeted in February in regions that are being impacted by the coronavirus, such as East Asia (See Vol. 1, Issue 1), but Latin America has nearly been completely spared. Discharges of propylene and naphtha in the
Asian LNG spot prices remain stable, with higher bids heard in the market while demand sentiments still subdued fueled by news of CNPC declaring force majeure. Northeast Asian terminals received 64 vessels, up from 61 last week. Next week’s outlook
South Korean exports of middle distillate reached 866,000 bpd in February, the third highest volume on our records and substantially above the 818,000 bpd of exports seen in January.
After selling all residual fuel oil stock in the beginning of February, China’s independent refinery (teapot) Hengrunde Petrochemical inGuangrao, Shandong paused residual fuel oil sales, waiting for the market to return to normal from the interruption of the coronavirus outbreak.
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