One of the unexpectedly soft spots in global oil demand recently has been in Europe. To be sure, Europe was never expected to be a major driver of oil demand growth. Consumption has been mostly flat for a long time. However, demand has actually declined year-on-year in the past few months, which suggests a slowdown in the European economy. Most glaringly, demand in Germany has fallen significantly. According to Standard Chartered, demand in Germany fell by 302,000 bpd in December compared to a year earlier. That was the tenth consecutive month of an annual decline in consumption in excess of 150,000 bpd. In November, Germany seemed to be the only source of fragility. But in December, the weakness popped up in many more European countries. According to Standard Chartered, in December, year-on-year declines in consumption were reported in: France (-124,000 bpd) Italy (-38,000 bpd) the UK (-36,000 bpd) the […]