U.S. Truck Boom Shows Why Oil’s Demand Comeback Is Here to Stay

Apr 28, 2021 at 09:32 AM CST
Baucham is making three round trips a night with containers from the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports to warehouses in Southern California’s Inland Empire, up from two a night during more normal times. The drive is an hour each way. He’s got to fill the tank on his 65-foot-long 18-wheeler every other day for all the shoes, clothing and electronics he’s moving. “Sometimes I wonder where we’re going to put it all,” said Baucham, 66. Whether it’s champagne, Harley-Davidson motorcycles or new TVs, Americans keep buying more stuff, and all of it needs to get hauled to warehouses, storefronts and doorsteps in trucks that typically run on diesel. Robust diesel consumption was a saving grace for the refining industry when demand plummeted for just about every other oil product during the first part of the pandemic.

Apr 28, 2021 at 09:32 AM CST

Baucham is making three round trips a night with containers from the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports to warehouses in Southern California’s Inland Empire, up from two a night during more normal times. The drive is an hour each way. He’s got to fill the tank on his 65-foot-long 18-wheeler every other day for all the shoes, clothing and electronics he’s moving. “Sometimes I wonder where we’re going to put it all,” said Baucham, 66. Whether it’s champagne, Harley-Davidson motorcycles or new TVs, Americans keep buying more stuff, and all of it needs to get hauled to warehouses, storefronts and doorsteps in trucks that typically run on diesel. Robust diesel consumption was a saving grace for the refining industry when demand plummeted for just about every other oil product during the first part of the pandemic.