Cargoes of crude oil are struggling to find buyers in Europe as demand from refineries falters due to unplanned halts.
Recent strikes at French refineries and the continued abundance of inventories mean demand for cargoes of newly pumped crude is weakening, according to DNB Markets and JBC Energy GmbH. That’s apparent in the price structure of derivatives linked to North Sea oil, where contracts for immediate delivery have been getting cheaper relative to later cargoes, broker data compiled by Bloomberg show.
