Commodity Trade and Finance

3 Refined oil products Refined oil products So far, our discussion of the oil industry has focused primarily on the upstream: looking at what drives crude oil demand, supply and pricing. It is now time to turn our attention to the downstream. We begin with a brief description of the refining process, continue with the main categories of refined products and, finally, discuss production, consumption, pricing and trade patterns for major regions, including North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.