A heavy oil refinery turnaround season in Europe this autumn, plus French strike action, is set to push diesel prices higher and tighten supplies ahead of a European Union ban on Russian refined products which is due to come into force early next year. In October, around 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude refining capacity is expected to be offline in Europe for planned and unplanned maintenance, Energy Aspect estimated. This figure compares with 1.1 million bpd of offline capacity in September, and is above the 2015-2019 average for this period. In November, offline capacity is expected to reach 600,000 bpd. The busier maintenance schedule is likely to be related to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Given all the Covid-related restrictions, social distancing etc, it’s likely that not a lot […]