Approaching tank tops to further pressure oil

Two analysts agree that crude oversupply will exhaust storage space in a matter of weeks

Cargo tracking specialist Kpler and Oslo-based consultancy Rystad Energy both predict spare capacity in global crude storage fully filled well before the end of May—a scenario that is likely to plunge oil prices ever lower. The firms’ views on how much capacity, not including floating storage, remains available is broadly similar. Rystad estimates that 875mn bl is left to fill. Kpler comes to a slightly lower figure of just under 750mn bl but concedes that there could be upside to that. It actually sees as much as 1.6-1.7bn bl of nameplate storage capacity still unfilled but is concerned that this includes facilities that are beyond practical use due to age or length of time since they were