Iran Ships Can Hold Months of Saudi Oil Pledge

(Bloomberg) — Iranian supertankers now in the Persian Gulf could store the equivalent of five months worth of the additional crude oil Saudi Arabia pledged to pump to curb prices, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

Saudi Arabia said it would increase production by 200,000 barrels a day in July, after a summit of leading oil producers and consumers in Jeddah yesterday. Saudi Arabia and Iran are the OPEC’s two largest oil producers.


Iran has 13 to 15 supertankers idling in the Gulf with capacity to hold as much as 30 million barrels, the ship-tracking data shows. Iran has not said how much oil is in the tankers. Hojatollah Ghanimifard, executive director of international affairs at National Iranian Oil Co., said June 2 that some vessels were storing crude while refineries carried out annual repairs.

Bloomberg