Following the sanctions imposed on dozens of tankers carrying Iranian and Russian oil in recent months, Reuters reported a significant jump in unsold oil reserves in the waters of these two countries.
Reuters, citing statistics from commodity intelligence company Kepler, reported that 10 to 20 million barrels have been added to Iran's oil reserves since the beginning of the year.
According to Kepler's estimate, 80 percent of Iran's oil reserves are stored in tankers anchored in the waters of Singapore and Malaysia.
Richard Bruns, head of geopolitics at energy consultancy Aspects, also pointed to the continued oil smuggling tactics of both countries, such as disabling and falsifying tanker automatic identification system messages and conducting ship-to-ship transfers of oil cargoes.