The amount of crude oil processed by global refineries is expected to rebound by 4.5 million b/d this year after falling by 7.2 million b/d in 2020, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Jan. 19.

  The IEA expects global refineries to process 78.9 million b/d of crude oil this year, up from 76.9 million b/d last year due to the Covid-19 impact.

  The world's refineries processed 2.6m b/d of crude oil in November to 76.1m b/d, the biggest monthly increase in seven years, the IEA said, as refineries resumed production from peak maintenance.

  The world's refineries are expected to process less crude this year than demand growth of 5.5 million barrels a day, the IEA said. However, due to "a relatively high proportion of LPG/ethane demand growth", when demand falls by 8.8m b/d, the overhang of refined products stocks that started last year is likely to continue this year.