Iranian Crude Stored at Sea Hits Record as Sanctions Slow Exports

Iran now has the largest volume of crude ever stored at sea, as sanctions, shipping bottlenecks and weaker Chinese buying reshape global oil flows.

(Reuters) — Iran has a record amount of oil on the water, equivalent to about 50 days of output, with China having bought less because of sanctions and Tehran seeking to protect its supplies from the risk of U.S. strikes, data from Kpler and Vortexa shows.

The amount of Iranian crude and condensate, either on tankers in transit or in floating storage vessels, reached a record high of 166 million barrels in the week ended January 11, according to shipping data provider Kpler, the highest level on record in data going back to 2016.

Data from shipping analysts at Vortexa pegs stocks at a record high around 170 million barrels.

Iran, one of the biggest producers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is facing its biggest anti-government demonstrations in years, drawing a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump of possible military action over lethal violence against protesters.

The amount of Iranian oil stored at sea has also increased to avoid cutting production just yet, said Kpler analyst Homayoun Falakshahi, adding that Chinese imports from Iran slowed in late 2025 because the country's refiners lacked crude import quotas and inventories in China are very high.

Iran is also seeking to send as many barrels as it can away from the Gulf to reduce geopolitical risks for those volumes, Falakshahi added. About half of the Iranian oil on water is near Singapore, according to Kpler.

Vortexa analysts said the level of Iranian crude on water increased by nearly 4% in the first week of January owing to difficulties faced in unloading oil.

"Most of the cargoes that have loaded in Iran over the past week will have been fixed well before the current tensions," Vortexa analyst Mick Strautmann said in an email to Reuters.