Posted on 04/13/2016 7:47:58 AM PDT by mac_truck
Huge traffic jams of tankers have formed around the world with some 200 million barrels of oil either waiting to be loaded or delivered as ports struggle to cope with record volumes in perhaps the most visible sign of the global oil glut.
Almost all of the over 660 Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), the largest tankers in use to transport seaborne oil, are used to ship crude between the Middle East and Asia’s consumption hubs around India and the Far East. The map above shows all of these super tankers in operation on April 11.
The icon on the maps represents a large crude tanker of either VLCC or Suezmax size. Hundreds of other small and medium crude carriers are also present in the region but not shown here.
(Excerpt) Read more at fingfx.thomsonreuters.com ...
The ships are being used as storage tanks, not so much as transport vessels.
Many of the “tankers” couldn’t get insurance to sail due to age and condition. Their holdings will likely have to be transferred back to a tank terminal or to another tanker.
Interesting indeed!
Doing what they can to PUSH UP the price of crude and gasoline prices. This mornings’ WSJ talks of rising prices on crude due to “OUTPUT CUTS”. A total ruse...while the glut oil sits in tankers, etc.
Back in the OPEC oil embargo of 1073 it was difficult to get gasoline.
Gas stations often had empty tanks and gas purchases were rationed in various ways. Sometimes the amount allowed was limited and most people could only purchase on odd-even days or by the odd or even number on your license plate.
Even though fuel was in short supply everywhere in the US there were photos of loaded tankers anchored offshore.
There were so many loaded tankers sitting idle that news outlets reported there were few empty tankers available.
The tankers were being used for storage offshore as they waited for prices to go up before they were cleared to unload.
The report says the russkies and Saudis have come to an agreement on controlling output. I’ll believe it when I see it. The Iranians are gearing up and will flood the market with additional oil. The Saudis and Russians are not going to lose share to them. Meanwhile, the frackers keep fracking.
And there is a whole slew of Iranian tankers waiting to be let loose.
And that is how the oil market is rigged. The output cuts are all Kabuki and designed to give an excuse to ramp up prices. There is no country - not one - that has agreed to a production cut, but just making that statement provides the excuse to run up the price. The oil will flow as it has. The tankers will still be backed up for another 3 to 6 months.
The world remains awash in oil. The fundamentals have not changed one bit in the past six months outside of currency fluxuations. There is no legitimate reason for the run up in crude prices from ~$31 per bbl to ~$45 per bbl.
I see many ships enroute.
200MB floating around vs. a world wide daily oil and liquid fuels consumption of 96MB/day. Say crude is half the 96MB/day consumption, which generously assumes that all crude goes into refineries, that’s 4 days WW consumption.
Is the price of oil so illiquid that holding out 4 days supply crashes the price from ~$90 to ~$30?
IMHO, the demand has collapsed, i.e. the WW economy sucks, and that is why the prices of most commodities have cratered.
Our fearless leaders just don’t want to spook the serfs.
Yeah, 1073 was a very bad year for gasoline. Thankfully, most horse power had four legs.
Not sure what the excuse is for prices jumping so high this time, but you just know there will be some excuse. Many who remain in the O&G towers downtown 'earn' their keep by developing such excuses! The 'energy industry': creating jobs for pathological liars for over a hundred years!
Darn Tootin'
Availability was much worse than the during the 1973 embargo!!!
There's a cost associated with playing that contango...bullish perhaps for shippers.
I imagine there is a similar map for interstellar ships trading back and forth out in the galaxy.
Was is the proper change in gas prices based on that move?
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