#96865
Re: Cobas AM: Nueva Gestora de Francisco García Paramés
Loving Málaga
Loving Málaga
On the demand front, the impacts of COVID-19 related lockdowns seem to be receding. In the US, every category of petroleum demand except for jet fuel is nearing pre-COVID levels. Core petroleum demand (gasoline, distillate, jet fuel, and residuals) is approaching 95% of normal. Removing the impact of jet fuel, demand is 98% of pre-COVID levels. Preliminary data from the rest of the world suggests a strong international recovery as well. Customs data continues to imply a very strong Chinese demand recovery while Indian demand is finally returning as well. While it is unclear what impact a second wave of COVID-19 cases will have on demand, it seems unlikely global coordinated lock-down measures will be implemented to the same extent as earlier this year. In our last letter, we provided controversial data suggesting air traffic was approaching 10% of normal. We received a lot of questions regarding this figure and decided a deeper study was in order. The confusion likely came from the distinction between passenger travel and air cargo. While the former is down sharply, the latter is up materially year-on-year. We estimate that air cargo made up 25% of jet fuel demand last year and grew double digits. Next, while passenger travel is down dramatically, the airlines have not cut the number of flights to the same extent. Therefore, we estimate that load factors have likely declined from over 80% last year to 40% this year. Since a plane is counted in traffic data regardless of its load factor, this helps partially explain the discrepancy. Lastly, we should also point out that global jet fuel demand is off by more than air traffic. For example, we reported air traffic is down 10% and our recent data suggests that jet fuel demand is off closer to 30%. The difference is explained by the fuel intensity of the impacted air traffic: longer distance travel is still down dramatically while shorter haul regional flights have recovered more. The net impact is the same: air traffic is recovering albeit more slowly than other forms of transportation. Hopefully this explanation helps to clear any confusion.