Vitol: Western oil reserves exhausted amid Iran tensions

The head of the world's largest independent oil trading company, Vitol Group, Russell Hardy, stated that oil reserves in Western countries have been completely exhausted due to the conflict with Iran.

Market situation remains tense

According to Bloomberg, Hardy emphasised the critical state of the market: «На Заході більше немає запасів, доступних для продажу. Ми повністю реалізували всі наявні резерви. Ситуація на ринку нафтопродуктів залишається вкрай напруженою і, ймовірно, триватиме ще деякий час у міру наближення зими» (There are no more reserves available for sale in the West. We have fully realised all existing reserves. The situation in the petroleum products market remains extremely tense and will likely persist for some time as winter approaches).

Logistical constraints affect resource availability

The head of Saudi Aramco reported that less than 10% of the world's 6 billion barrels of oil reserves are actually available due to logistical constraints.

JPMorgan data illustrates the dynamics of the record decline in global oil reserves since the start of the conflict with Iran. According to the company's chart, the operational stress level (7.6 billion barrels) was recorded in June, while the minimum critical level for normal infrastructure operation (6.8 billion barrels) was reached in September.