Wood Mackenzie vessel trackings shows that more than 126 mn bbls of crude has been loaded but remains anchored across the Middle Eastern Gulf, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues to prevent vessels from exiting the region amid the Iran–US conflict. The largest volumes are associated with Saudi Arabia at 56.1 mn bbls, followed by Iraq at 26.1 mn bbls and the UAE at 21.6 mn bbls. Additional cargoes linked to Kuwait and Qatar lift the total further, underscoring the scale of crude now effectively locked inside the Gulf.
While these barrels originate from core Gulf export systems, the vessels themselves are no longer clustered near individual load ports. Instead, loaded tankers are dispersed across the Gulf, with a significant concentration offshore the UAE, including waters near Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Vessel positions have become increasingly opaque, with irregular AIS behaviour and location masking making it harder to track precise anchorage, reinforcing the extent to which the disruption has shifted from terminal-level congestion to a wider offshore storage issue.
Despite the shipping standstill, Wood Mackenzie monitoring shows onshore crude storage drew last week, indicating that barrels continued to move off tanks and onto vessels even as the conflict intensified. The constraint has therefore moved decisively offshore, with floating storage building as loaded tankers remain unable to transit the Strait. At the same time, the pool of ballast vessels in the region continues to thin.
