Asia/Pacific News
Asia Storage Under Pressure
Sixty clean fuel tankers are anchored in the Singapore Straight where 30 to 40 would be the normal tally, business news provider Bloomberg reports
Citing IHS Market analyst Rahu Kapoor, the report says that the ships are stacking up in the Strait because they are either acting as floating storage, waiting for orders or waiting to discharge cargo.
Ships are having to wait weeks to discharge cargo in Singapore compared to a more usual four to five days, the report said.
Onshore storage in the region is also being squeezed. In India, tanks were 95% full as of last week while in Singapore, fuel stockpiles rose to a four-year high in mid-April. Analytics firm Vortexa has estimated that floating crude oil storage in Asia is running at a four-year high.
Including waters off Singapore and Malaysia, data intelligence firm Kpler saw a 45% month-on-month increase in the volume of clean fuels stored on ships to 6.64 million barrels as of April 23, according to the report.
