On Tuesday, Vitol, the world’s leading energy trader, highlighted the tightness in the global oil products market, attributing it to the Red Sea crisis and the diversion of Russian products.
CEO Russell Hardy noted that this situation has led to record volumes of oil products being stored on tankers at sea.
Hardy stated, “While European road transport demand will begin to wane by the mid-2020s, in the near term, we anticipate continued tightness in the market and an ongoing call on European refining.”
He also mentioned that the redirection of Russian products and Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have resulted in unprecedented levels of oil products being stored “on-water.”
Vitol, being the world’s largest independent oil trader with a significant presence in liquefied natural gas and power markets, revised its outlook on oil demand, projecting it to peak in the early 2030s, a few years later than previously anticipated.
Despite a decline in revenue to $400 billion in 2023, down more than 20% from the previous year due to weakened oil and gas prices following the 2022 price spikes triggered by Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, Vitol’s crude oil and product volumes only marginally decreased by 1.6% to 7.3 million barrels per day (bpd).
Although there was a 10% decline in crude volumes, this was partly offset by increases in gasoline and gasoil volumes, according to the firm.
