"Floating Oil Storage Grows Off California Coast"

From Bloomberg via gCaptain:

Oil tankers carrying enough crude to satisfy 20% of the world’s consumption are gathered off California’s coast with nowhere to go as fuel demand collapses.

Almost three dozen ships — scattered in waters from Long Beach to the San Francisco Bay — are mostly acting as floating storage for oil that’s going unused as the coronavirus pandemic shutters businesses and takes drivers off the road. Marathon Petroleum Corp.’s refinery in Martinez, California, has been idled and others, including Chevron Corp.’s El Segundo refinery, have curtailed crude processing as the state orders residents to stay at home.

The more than 20 million barrels of crude is the highest volume of crude to ever float off the West Coast at one time, according to Paris-based Kpler SAS, which tracks tanker traffic. About three quarters of those tankers are holding oil in storage, meaning they have been floating steadily for seven days, also a record....MORE

That's 20% of one day's worldwide usage rather than "20% of the world’s consumption" but still, this isn't Rotterdam or Singapore this is Cali and they don't park the big boats there, it's just not done.