Global products market weekly: Volatility remains in focus as economic data rattles markets

Post declining by US$3.86/bbl last Friday, the oil market continued the weakness at the start of this week and North Sea Dated Brent declined by US$1.65/bbl on Monday over recession concerns in the US and weak demand growth in China. However, crude prices saw a recovery on Wednesday and increased sharply owing to tensions around Iran’s retaliation attack on Israel and the US deploying forces in Israel. Moreover, a decline in the US EIA crude oil inventory coupled with an outage at Libya’s largest oil field, El Sharara also provided support to crude prices towards the end of the week. North Sea Dated crude’s weekly average declined by US$1.33/bbl, in the week ended 9th August. Our ex-RVO global composite refining margins declined by US$0.51/bbl to US$6.45/bbl due to fall in jet fuel and diesel cracks across major regions. Weekly margins were at US$2.08/bbl lower than the five-year historical average for the same week (excluding 2022).