Southeast Asian oil and fuel demand has hit a plateau after an initial recovery from the Covid-19-induced slump and appears unlikely to get back to pre-virus levels until the end of the year or later.
A slow rollout of vaccinations and a resurgence in cases in the region of almost 700 million people is pushing back the timeline for a return to business as usual. There are still restrictions on movement in parts of Indonesia and Malaysia, while tourist hot spots in Thailand remain closed. The aviation hub of Singapore hasn’t had much success in starting travel bubbles with other countries and Myanmar is wracked by civil unrest following a coup.
Indonesian fuel sales are still around 7% below pre-pandemic levels, state-owned energy company PT Pertamina said. Indonesian and Malaysian gasoline demand has…
