The Product Tanker Market

Trends in Refining Capacity

Trends in refinery capacity and throughput levels are also a key driver of seaborne products trade patterns. At the end of 2019, global refinery capacity totalled an estimated 101.2 million barrels per day, with over a third of this capacity located in Asia, and significant capacity also located in the US and Europe.

Global refinery capacity has expanded steadily over time in order to meet the continued growth in consumption of oil products, and has expanded by over 9.0 million barrels per day since the end of 2010. Refinery capacity additions in Asia, particularly China, have been a key driver of this expansion, with China adding 4.3 million barrels per day of capacity in this period. Growth in Middle Eastern refinery capacity has also been a key driver of expansion in the global refining industry, with the construction of large-scale export-oriented plants such as YASREF and Jubail in Saudi Arabia, which have supported longhaul products trade to Asia and Europe. More recently, the US and Indian refining sectors have also registered firm expansion, adding 1.0 million barrels per day and 0.8 million barrels per day of capacity respectively since 2014, whilst the refining industries in OECD nations in Europe and Japan have contracted as outdated capacity has been closed.

Further expansion is also projected in China, in particular in the independent refining sector.