Julian Lee, Columnist

Saudi Arabia Is Starting to Stockpile Oil Again

Filling up the storage tanks will help Riyadh take full advantage when Donald Trump’s Iran sanctions really hit.

August 5, 2018 at 7:00 AM UTC

Julian Lee is an oil strategist for Bloomberg. Previously, he was a senior analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies.

Playing the Great Game in the Persian Gulf.
Photographer: MyLoupe/Universal Images Group Editorial

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The key OPEC oil producers seem to be finding it harder than expected to sell their output overseas. The probable resulting build-up in their stockpiles should at least help them offset the drop in Iranian supplies as U.S. sanctions start to bite deeper.

Crude oil exports from the five Persian Gulf Arab members of OPEC fell by about 1.1 million barrels a day last month, after surging in June, according to Bloomberg tanker tracking.