Driving Towards Normality

The American summer driving season that typically kicks off with Memorial Day weekend is a period when oil and tanker markets traditionally anticipate an uptick in refined product demand. For each of the past two years, however, the durability of this seasonal demand surge has been tested by extraordinary conditions in oil markets driven largely by conditions in the economy. In 2008, traffic volumes were depressed by oil prices that hovered near $130 per barrel and last year demand was sapped by lingering effects of the then-recent economic melt-down. This year, signals of increasing refined product demand have arrived just as summer is getting under way, raising the possibility of a move towards a normal driving season. Download here