The world will run out of places to store oil in as little as three months, according to an industry consultant.
IHS Markit said that current rates of supply and demand mean inventories will increase by 1.8 billion barrels over the first half of 2020. With only an estimated 1.6 billion barrels of storage capacity still available, producers will be forced to cut output because by June there’ll be no place left to put the unwanted crude, it said.
The oil market has been hammered by falling demand as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, and as Saudi Arabia vows to flood the market with crude at deep discounts, following the collapse of the coalition of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia. On Thursday, Pakistan banned imports of crude and fuels because its storage sites are full. Vitol Group and Gunvor Group, two of the world’s top merchants, say there’s heavy interest in storing while several traders have booked supertankers to hoard barrels at sea.
No comments:
Post a Comment