Oil Tankers Drop Anchor as Traders See Profit in Price Rout
- At least five vessels booked for storage amid crashing prices
- Return of hefty contango means traders profit from storing oil
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Oil tankers starting to drop anchor as traders start deploying the vessels to keep barrels at sea in the wake of the price plunge.
Between five and 10 supertankers have now been booked for storage, according to Florian Thaler, chief executive officer of oil data analytics company OilX. Multiple shiprokers and industry executives said they agreed with the estimate, meaning vessels have been hired to hoard 10 million to 20 million barrels. They could hold as much as Argentina’s monthly consumption.