Reuters: Significant Drop in Oil Sales from Iran and Russia and Increase in Unsold Oil Reserves
Following the sanctioning of dozens of oil tankers carrying Iranian and Russian oil over the past months, Reuters reports a significant surge in the unsold oil reserves on the water for these two countries.
Reuters, citing data from the commodity information company Kpler, has reported that since the beginning of this year, 10 to 20 million barrels have been added to Iran’s oil reserves on the water.
According to Kpler’s estimates, 80 percent of Iran’s oil reserves are stored in tankers anchored in the waters of Singapore and Malaysia.
Richard Bruns, head of the geopolitics department at the energy consultancy Energy Aspects, also pointed to the continued use of oil smuggling tactics by these two countries, such as disabling and falsifying messages from the automatic identification system of tankers and carrying out ship-to-ship transfers of oil cargoes.
Since October last year, when Iran conducted a second large-scale missile attack on Israeli territory, the United States has sanctioned over 50 oil tankers carrying Iranian and Russian oil, disrupting the transfer of Iranian oil.
