Iranian Oil Held at Sea Hits Most Since ‘23 as China Demand Lags

Bloomberg.com · last updated November 24, 2025 – 9:47 PM

The amount of Iranian crude held on tankers at sea has swelled to the highest in two-and-a-half years, reflecting slower demand from top buyer China even as exports from the OPEC member remain elevated.

There are about 52 million barrels of the nation’s oil in floating storage, the most since May 2023, with roughly half off Malaysia, data from shipping-intelligence firm Kpler showed. That’s close to double the volume just a month ago, and up from 5 million to 10 million barrels in January.

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