Global Oil Demand Rises MoM in February on China Holiday

Global oil demand has been rising 1.7mbpd on the month through 21 February, supported by Chinese travel demand amid the Lunar New year Holiday, JP Morgan said in a note.

• Chinese oil demand is estimated at 15.7mbpd until February 2021.
• Cumulative travel volumes by road, rail and waterway saw an increase of 40% during 10-21 February, up from the first 11 days since the beginning of the New Year holiday in 2023.
• Chinese jet-fuel demand for the week ending 16 February rose by 331kbpd on the year, the highest in six weeks.
• Air-travel volumes rose 50% on the year to 26.7mn passengers over the 11 days period in 2024.
• The number of trucks on China’s expressways remained subdued at 15.8mn - well below the 50 million during non-holiday periods, but 5mn more than during the holiday in 2023. China’s weekly on-road diesel demand fell to to 2.2mbpd, the lowest in 19-weeks.
• In the US, on a four-week moving average basis, US gasoline demand improved to a five-week high of 8.3mbpd last week. Last week’s gasoline demand stood at 8.2mbpd.