European refiner hopes for a driving season
Varo sees the potential for a desire to holiday but a reluctance to fly recreating the US phenomenon on the other side of the Atlantic
Global jet fuel demand is unlikely to recover until 2022 at the earliest but will possibly take until 2024 to get back to pre-pandemic levels, in the views of trader Vitol, bank JP Morgan and European refiner Varo. But the last of these sees the possibility for an appetite in Europe to travel but not to get on a plane to create a so-called ‘driving season’ similar to those of the US spring/summer, where driving to vacation spots is more common. “We do not think jet demand is going to go back to pre-Covid levels before 2022,” Giovanni Serio, global head of research at Vitol told a Bloomberg panel to coincide with IP Week in late February. “Jet is not a matter of consumer behaviour, it is a m
Also in this section
5 March 2026
Gas is a central pillar of Colombia’s energy system, but declining production poses a significant challenge, and LNG will be increasingly needed as a stopgap. A recent major offshore gas discovery offers hope, but policy improvements are also required, Camilo Morales, secretary general of Naturgas, the Colombian gas association, tells Petroleum Economist
4 March 2026
The continent’s inventories were already depleted before conflict erupted in the Middle East, causing prices to spike ahead of the crucial summer refilling season
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat
