Iran War Boosts Refiner Hoarding
The ongoing war in the Middle East has increased refiner demand for precautionary stocks. One indicator of this is the extremely negative excess returns to storage for Brent shown in the figure here.
Oil Chaos (October 19, 2026) -- “The profitability of Europe’s oil refineries has fallen sharply, raising the prospect of output cuts just as the continent faces soaring prices for refined products.” More >>