Arab-Asian Oil Refining Projects Point To US-Led Rise In Regional Demand For Clean Fuels.

New Arab-Asian refining projects will have the capacity to turn a mix of sour crude oils totalling 6.9m b/d into premium fuels equivalent to 4.8m b/d by 2023, in which gasoline will be dominant. It will have the smell of the US market for motor fuels, by far the largest in the world.

This should meet the rise in world demand for mid-distillates, including gasoline and diesel. But gasoline - the motor fuel which will have the smell of the US. This figure is the world's largest producer of gasoline The resultant mix of fuels will cover- But that obscures a shift in the type of oil being demanded.

Demand for refined products such as gasoline -- whereby refineries turn crude oil into a useful fuel or feedstock -- is projected to rise by just 4.8 million barrels a day. Much of the gap is taken up by a growing share of natural gas liquids (NGLs), due largely to a surge in supply from the North American shale boom:

The US: US refiners are in a strong position to benefit from an ample supply of shales being turned into NGLs and other products. This is especially the case on the Gulf Coast. In the latter region, the refiners have access to both surging light-tight oil production, needed from a supply of low-sulphur feedstock for NGLs to meet demand in the shipping business at the end of the decade, as well as the processing of captive (and cheaper) Canadian heavy barrels of gas liquids.

The refiners there also enjoy low energy costs, shanks to shale gas.