Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Oil Markets and Economic Recovery


Two interesting monthly oil numbers which came out today are US vehicles miles travelled (upper chart) for February and Chinese oil demand numbers for March (lower chart - with US data superimposed). Chinese new vehicle sales were up 10% year on year in March 2009 and so the resumption of strong positive Chinese oil demand growth is likely soon. The question is, will oil demand in the US and the rest of the world turn positive soon also. The trend, at least in US vehicle miles traveled, would indicate so.