Fears of weak oil demand are taking over the market, overshadowing tanker battles in the Persian Gulf, something that would have typically sent oil prices skyrocketing. However, demand may also rebound in the second half of this year, offering some upside to oil prices. Demand only grew at a 0.95 million-barrel-per-day (mb/d) rate in the first half of 2019, according to Goldman Sachs, which the investment bank admitted was 0.4 mb/d lower than its estimate at the start of the year. It’s also the weakest start to any year since 2011. “Despite this poor start, we see increasing scope for oil demand to finally start exceeding beaten-down expectations,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a note. The investment bank cited a few reasons for the prediction, including strong consumer demand, recent positive data from the refining sector on end-use demand, plus an overall strengthening of the macroeconomic picture. In other […]