US fundamentals shaky for oil storage

摘要

INDEPENDENT oil storage opera-tors in the US are having to adjust to more difficult times. In 2011 their speculative storage dried-up as refined product prices moved into backwardation - futures prices lower than prompt, eliminating the attraction for speculative stock-holding and persuading marketers to trim their commercial stocks to the minimum. Then in 2012 they were faced with another decline in products consumption, cutting the volumes moving through their terminals.