Refiners hold off buying oil as prices surge after supply hit
Asia’s two biggest buyers of West African supply, India and China, are “busy either cutting back runs, upping Russian imports, drawing on floating barrels and looking to draw on their own strategic petroleum reserve,” said Neil Crosby, head of research at Sparta Commodities.
Bloomberg, March 12, 2026 – Refiners are delaying crude purchases as Middle East supply disruptions push premiums sharply higher. Some barrels are trading up to $40 above benchmarks, while freight costs are also rising. As a result, refineries are cutting processing rates and waiting for prices to ease, even as fuel prices surge. Governments are responding by releasing 400 million barrels from strategic reserves, but supply disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz are still tightening global markets.
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