2020: THE YEAR OIL STORAGE ENTERED THE MAINSTREAM

COVID-19 and its knock-on effects gave much for discussion at the 14th S&P Global Platts European Oil Storage Conference The 14th S&P Global Platts European Oil Storage Conference, with the theme ‘Navigating uncertainty for energy storage markets’, was held online in 2021, a further example of the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world. And things are certainly still very uncertain. While the global vaccine rollout begins, progress is rapid in some places and slow in others, many places are still in lockdown, travel bans remain in place and cases and deaths continue to rise. As Tank Storage Magazine goes to press, it has been one year since the UK went into lockdown, still reeling from the shock of the rapid spread of a virus that just a few short weeks previously, had seemed to be just another nasty, but contained, epidemic like SARS. The bulk liquid storage industry has had a lot to contend with in the past year with a super contango, negative US oil prices, OPEC+ production cuts and 25% of the global tanker fleet used as floating storage, as well as changing trade flows and a complete collapse in oil demand. As moderator Paul Hicken from S&P...