In episode eight of Back to Fundamentals,  Energy Aspects’ Head of Oil Products Rob Campbell is joined by Assistant Vice President of Oil Products Sandra Octavia and Oil Products Analyst Koen Wessels to discuss key recent developments in global oil products markets as well as our latest views across the barrel for the coming months.

 Freeze-offs in Texas have removed 3.24 mb/d of US refinery runs over 13–20 February, triggering a massive rebalancing process across the entire barrel—and especially within the gasoline markets—and impacting not just the Atlantic basin but the east of Suez as well. European runs will stay subdued in H1 21 on weak margins, while Asian products markets started the year on solid ground, earning strong margins for conversion units even as a colder-than-expected winter tightened the bottom of the barrel. We discuss these issues alongside developments in global vaccination programmes, improving Chinese export margins and strong conversion unit profitability, as well as these events’  impact on product supply, demand recovery and trade flows.