The downstream industry has been drawing increasing attention lately, with forecasters essentially warning refiners to brace up for dropping fuel demand and a new focus on petrochemicals as the main source of revenues. These warnings are not new, in fact. For several years, this has been the default expectation for the refining industry amid a doubling down from governments and activists on the energy transition. When the transition speeds up, the argument went, refiners will have little choice but to lean more heavily on petrochemicals as EVs…
