China’s New Year travel restrictions slow, but don’t stop oil demand recovery
China’s efforts to keep people from travelling for Chinese New Year because of several clusters of COVID-19 infections are forcing analysts to revise first-quarter fuel demand estimates, but are not expected to derail its post-pandemic recovery.
China’s Ministry of Transport has said passenger trips during the 40-day spring travel season could be down by 40% from the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. That has led analysts to cut forecasts for first-quarter oil demand by as much as 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) on the assumption this means less gasoline and jet fuel will be consumed.