China and Japan have recently intensified purchases of crude oil on the spot market, driving spot premiums for some grades to their highest in several months and signaling that Asia’s physical demand for crude is rising despite the crisis in India, where fuel consumption is slumping. The premiums for cargoes of some of Asia’s favorite grades such as ESPO of Russia and Al-Shaheen of Qatar have jumped in recent days to their highest in months, traders told Bloomberg on Wednesday. Rising premiums, as well as deepening backwardation of the Dubai futures structure, are pointing to continued recovery in oil demand in the most important oil-importing region. Backwardation is the state of the market signaling tighter supplies with prompt prices higher than those further out in time. The bullish signals of demand from China and Japan add to the signs that Europe’s demand has also started to recover as most […]