2ND UPDATE: Total Executive: Gasoline Demand To Fall In US, Europe
September 14 2009 - 7:45AM
Dow Jones News
Gasoline demand in the U.S.and Europe is expected to fall
through to 2020 due to the recession, climate change legislation
and new refining capacity, a Total SA (TOT) executive said
Monday.
"We are quite convinced at Total that in both regions the
consumption will decrease very sharply," Andre Tricoire, senior
vice president of refining, said.
Speaking at Platts' European Refining Markets conference in
Brussels, Tricoire said the decline in gasoline demand in the wake
of the global economic slowdown is one of the biggest threats to
European refiners, who are heavily reliant on gasoline exports to
the U.S.
Europe's gasoline surplus could grow to 50 million metric tons a
year in 2020, particularly if U.S. regulations to limit carbon
dioxide emissions further discourage gasoline consumption, he
added.
Excess refining capacity is also expected to pressure refining
margins in the short and medium term, he added, even though Total
estimates that only 40% of announced new refinery projects will
come online in the coming years.
Earlier this month, Total said it would shut its entire
137,000-barrel-a-day Dunkirk refinery in northern France in
response to weak demand and slim refining margins.
Total also halted a crude distillation unit at its
331,000-barrel-a-day Normandy refinery in August due to poor
refining economics.
-By Lananh Nguyen, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20-7842-9479;
lananh.nguyen@dowjones.com
(Adam Mitchell in Paris contributed to this report.)