US oil blockade could strand Saudi tankers

The Guardian reports that Saudi tankers holding around 40mn barrels of oil could be left stranded off the US coast as President Donald Trump considers a ban on imports to support domestic markets.

A fleet of 19 supergiant tankers, holding 2mn barrels each, is understood to be en route to the US, where storage facilities have almost reached capacity.

The tankers are reported to be carrying seven times more Saudi oil than the Middle East country usually ships to the US Gulf Coast, increasing worries that ‘oil dumping’ may add to the oversupply, which triggered the first ever negative oil prices this week.