Saudi Arabia Doubles Down On Asian Demand

The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has been spooking the oil community at large and despite OPEC shrugging off any major demand disruption in its short-term forecasts, it remains the large downside risk factor today. This being said, the sentiment is not evenly spread out across continents, in fact, Asia looks much more robust, both in terms of its refinery runs and its overall buying activity, than most of the Atlantic Basin. The oft-mooted return of China looms large over this mood discrepancy, after all, Beijing has softened its electricity…