Asia’s Uneven Oil Demand Recovery Shows Rally Faces Hurdles

Asia’s Uneven Oil Demand Recovery Shows Rally Faces Hurdles

Japanese gasoline demand was still down 27% in May from a year earlier, while South Korean processors are operating at rates that are 5 to 10 percentage points lower than usual.. Fuel demand and refinery run rates are still well below pre-virus levels.. Production of refined oil products fell 10.9% in April from a year earlier, data from Korea National Oil Corp. show.. Indonesia's overall fuel imports were down 3.6% in April from a year earlier, customs data compiled by Bloomberg show.. Diesel imports jumped 60% from a year earlier, according to data intelligence firm Kpler, while overall clean fuel imports were up 50%.. Sales of diesel, the most widely used petroleum product in the country, rose 69% in May from April but were down 29% year-on-year.. Gasoline sales jumped 82% month-on-month, but fell 35% from a year earlier.. Indian Oil Corp., the country's biggest refiner, said Wednesday that its plants were running at 83% capacity and it was aiming to get them to 90% this month..