Global fuel demand is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels by early next year as the economy shrugs off pandemic woes, but spare refining capacity is likely to weigh on outlook, oil producers and traders said on Monday.

While a persistent rise in COVID-19 infections in several markets has hurt recovery in demand for some refined products such as jet fuel, consumption trends of petrol and diesel indicate higher growth, the industry leaders said.

They were speaking at the Platts APPEC 2021 conference that is being held in a hybrid format this year, including both in-person and virtual participants.

“We saw refining margins rebound as demand rebounded… But overall for the world, there’s still a lot of unutilised capacity and a lot of capacity has been taken off stream,” said Eugene Leong, president of BP Singapore and CEO of BP’s trading & shipping arm of Asia Pacific and the Middle East…read more.