Oil in Floating Storage More Than Doubles in a Month

The volume of key oil products held in floating storage around the globe has more than doubled in the past month to about 68 million barrels, according to data from oil analytics firm Vortexa.

The figure, which includes gasoline, diesel and jet fuel as of April 22, compares with around 30 million barrels in the previous month, Vortexa said.

With available space on land storage tanks scarce, traders around the world have been rushing to book tankers of different sizes to store oil products as lockdowns around the world to tackle the coronavirus pandemic hammer oil demand.

Floating storage has increased in northwest Europe, the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico, Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, as well as at other locations, Vortexa said.

(Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar; Editing by Susan Fenton and Mark Potter)