Oil Charts Show Demand Ailing in World's Top Consuming Region
- Asian gasoil refining profits slump 35% ahead of winter season
- Returns from processing at sophisticated plants at 5-year low
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Oil investors concerned about supplies due to booming U.S. output and uncertainty over how OPEC and its allies will implement production cuts may have reason to worry about demand as well.
A look at refining profits in Asia shows consumption may not be keeping with supplies in the world’s top oil-consuming and importing region. Even as countries such as China, South Korea and Japan gear up for lower temperatures during the year-end winter season when demand for fuels such as diesel typically peak, processing gains from turning crude into the heating oil is at the lowest level in at least eight months.