Traders Hoarding Most Oil Since 2009 Amass North Sea Fleet
- Ships holding 9 million barrels of crude idle in North Sea
- Traders holding supplies out of necessity, not for profit: IEA
Oil Prices Tumble After EIA Report
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Oil traders increased the fleet of ships deployed in the North Sea to store crude, the latest sign of faltering demand that has triggered the biggest build up of stockpiles at sea since 2009.
Nine tankers holding about 9 million barrels of the major North Sea crude grades are floating off the U.K.’s coast, up from 7 million in May, according to a survey of oil traders and ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The volume of oil in storage on ships worldwide reached 95 million barrels at the end of June, the highest since the 2008 to 2009 recession gave traders an incentive to hold supplies for later delivery, the International Energy Agency said.