Peak Oil is You
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Page added on April 8, 2020
Millions Of Barrels Of Oil Nobody Wants Are Floating In The Ocean
Oil demand is in a freefall, thanks to improvements in battery technology, the proliferation of green energy alternatives, and — let’s face it — a world on lockdown due to the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. All of these factors have come together to push barrels of oil to their lowest price in decades, but production hasn’t stopped, which means there are now millions and millions of barrels of crude just sort of stuck. Adrift at sea, “stored” on massive oil tankers and waiting for things to go back to normal.
Except that, for energy companies, it’s getting harder and harder to imagine that we’ll ever get back to what they think of as “normal” with each passing day of telecommuting and each new press release from companies like Tesla, Lucid, and Volvo Polestar launching new EVs and gloating about success after success. It sort of begs the question: is oil over?
“There’s oil all over the oceans right now. That’s where they are storing oil. We have never seen anything like that,” US President and alleged sex-offender Donald Trump said this week, seemingly flustered, from the podium of the White House. “Every ship is now loaded to the gills (with oil).”
Despite the fact that oil companies are losing money, gas stations are facing bankruptcy, and lost tax revenue from fuel sales is choking cash-strapped government budgets, not everyone is losing money. In fact, it’s probably a great time to be in the fuel storage business, because that business is booming! “The world is overproducing oil at a historic rate,” explains Robert Hvide MacLeod, the head of Frontline Management, one of the world’s largest operators of oil tankers. “Land-based storage is limited and selling out fast. Storage on ships will be the only solution.”
Image courtesy of Bloomberg
The graph clearly shows oil storage profits about as high as — if not higher than — their peak in the 2008/09 financial crisis. What’s more, it remains to be seen whether or not the market will “bounce back” the way it did back then, when mainstream electric vehicles like the Tesla Model 3 weren’t yet a thing, really.
I’m not the only one saying things like this, either. Even in the industry, there are concerns being voiced. Ben Luckock, for example, is the co-head of oil trading at merchant Trafigura Group, and he’s saying that oil producing nations are generating “a commodity that the world doesn’t need,” forcing crude oil, literally, into the oceans. “The problem for crude oil is fast coming. We need more contango (a scenario where the futures price of a commodity is higher than the price of that commodity today) to pay for non-traditional types of storage,” he said, and that doesn’t seem likely for oil.
Those oil producing nations, mainly Russia and OPEC, continue to talk about cuts to artificially stem the global fuel supply and, it’s hoped, push prices back up. But there are problems there, too. Even if OPEC cuts production by 10 million barrels a day, as Trump has suggested publicly, it won’t be enough to offset the drop in demand. “According to our numbers, even this 10 million barrels cut, in the second quarter we may well see a stock building over 15 million barrels per day,” said Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency.
These are interesting times, indeed. What do you guys think? Are all these floating tankers just a dozen or so Exxon Valdez’ waiting to happen, or are we just in a temporary, pandemic-fueled lull before everyone fires up their F150s and gets back to work? Let us know what you think in the comment section.
10 Comments on "Millions Of Barrels Of Oil Nobody Wants Are Floating In The Ocean"
vex 3 on Thu, 9th Apr 2020 4:48 am
Thanks for sharing. I found a lot of interesting information here. A really good article, very grateful and hope that you will write more articles like this.
Abraham van Helsing on Thu, 9th Apr 2020 6:53 am
Everybody understands that the oil age is ending.
Peak oil demand!
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/04/08/belgium-hits-9-electric-vehicle-market-share/
In Belgium in March, auto sales were down a whopping 48%, but plug-in vehicle sales were up 39%! In the first quarter of the year, plug-in vehicle sales were up 91%.
Only idiots living under a stone would consider buying a gasoline car as of Q2-2020.
Davy on Thu, 9th Apr 2020 7:24 am
“Everybody understands that the oil age is ending.”
LOL, and who would that be? Oil age is here to stay as long as there is globalism. The 100% renewable fantasy world is over and never even got going.
Davy on Thu, 9th Apr 2020 7:25 am
“In Belgium in March, auto sales were down a whopping 48%, but plug-in vehicle sales were up 39%! In the first quarter of the year, plug-in vehicle sales were up 91%.”
show us the raw numbers cloggo and show us how many vehicles are no the road currently by type. LMFAO
whoa supertards galore on Thu, 9th Apr 2020 7:42 am
why whitey (((supertard))) sanders does not want to win. supertard sander is a big muzzie lover.
“lo muzzie allah made you fight (((supertard))) until the final day and then the rock say kill (((supertard))) unless he hides behind the gharda tree”
(((supertard))) daniel perl’s killer is free. supertard perl said no annesthesia needed for his beheading and he was forced to say he’s (((supertard)))
eveyrone please love supertard. if you love supremacist muzzies you can love supertard
why (((supertard))) jane harman love muzzies? in recent interview iwth chris wallace she said “some crazy guy” killed two people in french “allah acbar”. cops loved muzzie 1000x and jane hartman loved muzzies
the muzzie / (((supertard))) coalition is shaky
whoa supertards galore on Thu, 9th Apr 2020 7:49 am
On This Day…
Apr 09, 2016: Qaryata, Syria
Women are among Christians executed by the caliphate
for “breaking their dhimmi contracts”: 21 Killed
ht supertard glenn roberts thereligionofpeace
whoa supertards galore on Thu, 9th Apr 2020 7:56 am
the seige of constantinople in 1450 after 19 y/o muhamad the pedifile follower put hundreds of ships and 100k muzzies agianst 700 defenders of the city. whitey supertard orban (sound familiar viktor orban?) built a seig cannon 25ft long and 3′ diameter pulverize the city walls.
christians boys were forced to convert attacked teh city and looted and killed eveyrhtihing.
the coming jihad will have tons of muzzie lovers charging the walls of kufar and many of them are already inside
ht supertard raymon ibrahim
whoa supertard galore on Thu, 9th Apr 2020 8:00 am
muzzie FGM nasty said sharia law
“And those who accuse chaste women, and produce not four witnesses, flog them with eighty stripes, and reject their testimony forever. They indeed are the Faasiqoon (liars, rebellious, disobedient to Allaah)”
[al-Noor 24:4].
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 1, 2020
the context here is a response to charge of her own adultery with threat of sharia
whitey supertard president trump beter watch out. this muzzie FGM may go inner struggle
Abraham van Helsing on Thu, 9th Apr 2020 11:21 am
Norwegian zero emission electric construction sites:
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/04/09/worlds-first-zero-emission-electric-construction-site/
Never forgot the stament made by the rockman years ago, namely that all wind power in Texas was build by f* Europeans. Here is another Oersted-Denmark wind farm in Texas:
https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/2020/04/07/orsted-completes-338-mw-sage-draw-wind-project-in-texas/
Global electricity installment 2019:
72% renewable
https://www.energiezukunft.eu/wirtschaft/drei-viertel-der-neu-installierten-stromleistung-ist-erneuerbar/
Renewable: 176 GW
Fossil + nuclear: 67 GW
Even the greatest dummies should understand that the victory of renewable is inevitable.
Uruguay is #4 in the global renewable electricity pecking order, with 36% renewable electricity (from wind and solar only):
https://energytransition.org/2020/01/uruguay-latin-americas-renewable-champion/
If you include hydro-power, Uruguay is even at 97%
Peter on Tue, 14th Apr 2020 5:17 am
I think OPEC and Russia have agreed to halt the production of oil. https://www.bluonenergy.com/hvac-tech-support/