World oil demand in 2016 continued its healthy performance for the second year, with growth set to be above 1.3 mb/d. This growth is in line with our initial projection for the year in July 2015. However, revisions were made within the regions with upward adjustment in OECD Europe, OECD Asia Pacific and Other Asia. Oil demand in these regions performed better-than-expected particularly in the petrochemical and transportation sectors. The upward revisions were almost entirely offset by bearish oil consumption momentum in Latin America and Middle East as a result of stagnating economic activities and a high level of fuel substitution with natural gas. In terms of oil products, road transportation fuels – both gasoline and diesel oil – were the largest contributors to 2016 oil demand growth, in line with high vehicle sales in major markets, particularly in Europe and China. Petrochemical feedstocks also received an extra push in 2016 as firm petrochemical margins globally as well as start-ups of propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plants in China lent support to the industry.

Oil market highlights 1

Feature article 3

Crude oil price movements 5

Commodity markets 11

World economy 15

World oil demand 31

World oil supply 42

Product markets and refinery operations 58

Tanker market 65

Oil trade 69

Stock movements 77

Balance of supply and demand 84

Monthly endnotes 92