13 stunning photos of supertankers and storage tanks reveal the global oil glut in epic proportions

Benji JonesApr 28, 2020, 02:23 IST

Oil tankers carrying more than 20 million barrels of oil float off the coast of California.Petty Officer Third Class Aidan Cooney/US Coast Guard

A pandemic-led demand crunch is causing storage tanks around the world to fill up with oil that no one wants.
Today, nearly 90% of the globe's 4.3 billion barrels of crude oil storage is full, according to the research firm Rystad Energy. The rest could fill up in as few as three weeks.
Most of that excess oil ends up in floating-roof storage tanks. But millions of barrels are also sitting idly in supertankers, which have nowhere to go.
A handful of companies like Kpler and Orbital Insight have developed creative ways to track the oil glut involving sensors and satellite imagery.
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Normally, the westward view from Long Beach, California is serene, with shimmering turquoise stretching for miles towards the horizon.

Normally, that horizon is not dotted with dozens of oil supertankers. But then again, there's nothing normal about the first few months of 2020.

In a matter of weeks, stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of coronavirus have sapped demand for oil, driving the price to 20-year lows and testing the limits of storage.

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Global oil storage capacity is roughly 4.3 billion barrels, and nearly 90% of it is already full, according to the consultancy Rystad Energy. The firm now sees storage reaching "tank tops" in as few as three weeks.

That means there's a massive amount of oil with nowhere to go.

Most of it ends up in large floating-roof oil tanks, such as those that surround the city of Cushing, Oklahoma, where the US benchmark, West Texas intermediate (WTI), is delivered. Other oil is sitting in caverns underground.

More still is stuck inside supertankers — like those seen off the coast of Long Beach on Thursday last week.

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A station in Southgate, Michigan was selling gas for under $1 last week Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Some firms also track the movement of oil supertankers

Data from Kpler show crude oil and fuel oil tankers in the Malacca Strait Kpler

So, how do we know how much oil is in storage?

A satellite image of oil tanks, which computers can use to measure capacity Orbital Insight

Globally, nearly 90% of all available crude storage is full

Oil tanks in Carson, California Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma are about 80% full

Oil tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma Kpler

The tanks are designed to minimize emissions and the risk of explosion

Nick Oxford/Reuters

Most of the world's storage is in floating-roof tanks, like those pictured here

Oil tanks in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia Orbital Insights

If the US blocks imports of crude, Saudi Arabia may re-route the tankers

Saudi Aramco

The tankers are carrying more than 40 million barrels of crude oil

Saudi Aramco oil tankers Saudi Aramco

There are also about 20 supertankers, like the one pictured here, headed from Saudi Arabia to the Gulf of Mexico

A small boat fills a supertanker with oil Saudi Aramco

The US Coast Guard said it was monitoring the ships

Oil supertankers off the coast of California US Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Aidan Cooney

With land-based storage nearly filled up, there's nowhere to put the oil

There were 27 tankers, according to the US Coast Guard Petty Officer Third Class Aidan Cooney/US Coast Guard

There were 27 oil supertankers anchored off the coast of Southern California last Thursday

Oil tankers off the coast of Long Beach, California APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images

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