Political fiat rather than market mechanisms will dictate flows, baseloads for the new refineries are mainly Middle Eastern grades so U.S. flows will likely push out West African or North Sea oil (of similar quality).

Michal Meidan

For markets that are already consumed with fears about a global recession ... headline numbers of oil demand growth slowing alongside talk of run cuts seem to reinforce a bearish narrative.

This is what SOE reform will look like, you can call it a bailout or just an asset transfer... getting a more commercially minded, albeit state-owned, investor to try and increase profitability or minimize losses.

For the (Chinese) national oil companies (NOCs), reselling internationally at a loss is politically problematic as the government would prefer they sold domestically at a loss, so the best option for the NOCs at this point is to try to renegotiate contracts and make them more flexible, or cheaper.

China's view of supply security is now increasingly a question of becoming a price maker and being involved in the entire supply chain globally.

Monthly data is problematic to look at for broader structural trends because stocks tend to distort the data.

Slower economic growth and higher domestic prices ... are temperi... by Michal Meidan

Slower economic growth and higher domestic prices ... are tempering demand.

The build-out was driven by competition between the companies for... by Michal Meidan

The build-out was driven by competition between the companies for market share.