Every day, energy merchants collect and scrutinize whatever information they can find on fuel demand to get a trading edge: from satellite data tracking oil tankers worldwide to thermal images from cameras on pipelines and storage tanks.
Real-time data on fuel demand would be the ultimate prize.
On-the-spot gasoline consumption figures would change the way oil markets trade, because it is “the holy grail of metrics,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
A few weeks ago, the market thought it had found it. In mid-April, Apple Inc unveiled new data tracking human mobility trends, capturing user activity in searching for directions on smartphones.
