Global Oil Stocks Rising 10% a Month: Analyst

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday March 31, 2020

Storage capacity for crude and refined oil products is dwindling fast, an analyst has said.

"Global oil storage is filling up rapidly as the coronavirus pandemic reduces consumption by tens of millions of barrels per day (bpd) while leading oil producers have yet to rein in their crude output," Reuters market analyst John Kemp.

While there is no comprehensive data on "total storage volumes available in the petroleum supply chain or the amount unfilled at the start of the year", the International Energy Agency has said consumption could have shrunk by 20 million barrels per day because of the pandemic and national lockdowns.

"If that is roughly accurate, storage will be filling at the rate of 600 million barrels per month," Kemp said.

Kemp estimates that global petroleum stocks are currently rising by about 10% a month.

"As the petroleum market moves into massive surplus, storage has become the most scarce commodity in the industry," he said.