Weak crude oil demand visible in Asia Pacific due to COVID-19 restrictions, lockdowns: S&P Global

Zhuwei Wang, lead analyst-Middle East oil markets at S&P Global Platts Analytics, on Tuesday, said that potential weakening fundamentals are visible on the demand-side especially in the Asia Pacific region.

“We are witnessing potential weakening fundamentals from the demand side, specifically in Asia Pacific region, starting in next one-two months as we are seeing the reimposing of restrictions, or even lockdowns in a lot of countries, mainly in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand; all of this will potentially translate into very short-term headwinds to the demand recovery in the third quarter of this year,” he said.

“However, in the long-term, we still believe that the fundamental of the demand side will remain solid, not only in the Asia Pacific region but also from the Atlantic basin, namely from the US and Western Europe. So that will help to stabilize the price recovery of crude oil in the coming quarters,” said Wang.