China and Japan get the crude oil demand on track; pandemic concerns in Asia remain serious, though
Despite the rising infections across Asia, especially
in India, the crude oil imports have been rising in the region, according to
the latest news from Singapore.
According to the same source, there have been
heightened activities at refineries in both China and Japan in proportion to
the growth prospects of the countries in question.
China, that was in a buying spree at the height of the
pandemic last year, slowed down the import slightly at the beginning of this
year, perhaps reeling from the aftermath of pandemic.
A few weeks ago, it was the maintenance phase of its
refineries. With that phase coming to an end soon, they have increased the
import of crude oil substantially to meet demand of the consumers.
In India – and in the Asian region for that matter –
the resurgence of the pandemic continues unabated with alarming number of daily
infections; on Friday, the daily infections in India were more than 200,000.
Judging by the developments across the world in the
past year, these numbers mean that the next lockdowns are inevitable; although,
not official, they are already in the embryonic stage and pathogenic equivalent
of miscarriages never took place during the last year.
Like the physical phenomenon, resonance, when the
pandemic flares up at one end of the globe, the same thing happen at the
opposite end, perhaps, a few weeks later. In short, no one is immune to it.
The Vaccine rollout that made a difference in some
countries, unfortunately, got caught up in an unusual storm saturated with
political connotations; it has been forced to mimic a pendulum in this climate
of uncertainty.
Global oil traders feel happy the crude oil markets
remain robust eclipsing the uncertainties.
