Bloomberg Surveillance · Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Ben Cook highlighted that global refining capacity is significantly tight, with capacity down by five to six million barrels. This tightness, exacerbated by conflicts and drawdowns in inventories, is driving up prices for refined products like diesel and jet fuel. He noted that adding new refinery capacity in the US is a long and capital-intensive process.
“You know, if you look at the global price of, you know, whether it's diesel or gasoline, it's obviously elevated with the tightness we're seeing based on the conflict with Iran and with the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”
“You know, just recently on the second quarter call by ExxonMobil, You know, we heard from CEO Darren Woods that global refining capacity is off by as much as five to six million barrels. So that's as tight as the market's ever been.”
“And we continue to see drawdowns in inventories. And we think the strength in those refined product prices will continue.”