Crude Prices Rise Despite Falling Asian Oil Imports

The world’s most important oil-importing region, Asia, is showing signs of weaker physical demand with lower cargo arrivals in May and crashing refining margins as a COVID resurgence depresses fuel demand in India and other south Asian markets.  Crude oil futures prices rallied to a two-year high this week after OPEC+ reaffirmed plans to unwind another 840,000 barrels per day (bpd) of its total cuts in July.  Yet, provisional crude oil import data for Asia’s top markets signal that physical demand is softer than what investors…