50 oil tankers loitering off British coast as they wait for price hike

[NhojNhoj67]

Someone appears to be expecting shortages.

But according to industry experts, a significant number are 'oil sharks' - tankers that have been cynically told to wait for crude prices to be driven up before they unload their cargo.
With values soaring on the international markets, fuel made from their oil is unlikely to appear on a petrol station forecourt any day soon.
Paul Watters of the AA said: 'Tankers are off the UK coast and also off the U.S. They are acting as storage tanks. As always, motorists are the victims in this. They are at the end of the food chain.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1229337/Petrol-prices-Oil-tankers-loitering-British-coast-lie-wait-price-hikes.html

[TheDignityofStruggle]

Shortages or a dollar collapse.

[NhojNhoj67]

Shortages or a dollar collapse.

Shortages.

When the $US pops so will Stirling.

[TheDignityofStruggle]

Absolutely. But oil will sell for more regardless.

[Chesyre]

if the dollar/pound crashes wonder if the tankers will up anchor and simply sail off to places with stable currencies 

[TheDignityofStruggle]

Their flight to the Euro and the Looney won't be a long one. 

[Chesyre]

Their flight to the Euro and the Looney won't be a long one. 

you are assuming the tanker's won't just refuse to offload until payment in full in precious metals is delivered to said ship.

[TheDignityofStruggle]

Their flight to the Euro and the Looney won't be a long one. 

you are assuming the tanker's won't just refuse to offload until payment in full in precious metals is delivered to said ship.

Heh, they'll be waiting a long time then.

[haniel]

if the dollar/pound crashes wonder if the tankers will up anchor and simply sail off to places with stable currencies 

No, they will just get payment in a different currency, one the owner of the oil has confidence in.

[seanx]

Or the British military just takes it. How hard would it be for the SAS to take an oil tanker? How long? 5 minutes? I am sure they have practiced.

[forager]

Or the British military just takes it. How hard would it be for the SAS to take an oil tanker? How long? 5 minutes? I am sure they have practiced.

Those would be the last tankers to get near Great Britain for a long time.

[dwheeler]

My take away from this article is there is such a glut of bottoms , and prices for tanker hold space is so low that this is possible.   

The thing I have never fully understood about Peak Oil is this sort of thing.  We are past peak and the world is unglued. Decline rates have started to take hold but the economies are preceeding the decline and demand is falling faster than the decline.

So there is a glut of oil short term?  There certainly is a glut of shipping.  Are we going to see-saw down for years?

And if there is a complete implosion of the 1st world currencies , oil exporting countries still have to buy food.  So do we then trade food for oil on a quid pro quo.

How long before the grain ships are sitting off Dubai waiting for the price to go up on Wheat ,which is to be traded for oil which is sitting in a ship off Galveston and they are all waiting for the price to go up 10%.  I am sure things will get weirder.   

[seanx]

Those would be the last tankers to get near Great Britain for a long time.

Remember GB has a large navy. And several hundred nuclear warheads. They can just take a lot of things, including oil if they so choose.

[Bruce]

 There ain't much doubt that oil is going to go up. Especially if all of it is floating around on ships instead of unloading at the ports...............Bruce

[IndianGirl]

The cost of hiring a tanker is huge - can companies afford to just "park" tankers indefinately?