Oil Storage Market to Worth Over US$ 16.7 Billion by 2033 | Astute Analytica

Chicago, Nov. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global oil storage market was valued at US$ 11.6 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach US$ 16.7 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 4.1% from 2025-2033.

The core driver propelling the oil storage market is a projected global oil supply glut. Production is forecast to consistently outpace consumption throughout 2025, creating a substantial volume of crude requiring storage. Projections indicate the global oil supply surplus will reach an impressive 2.3 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2025. Moreover, forecasts suggest this surplus could expand even further to a staggering 4.0 mb/d in 2026. Global liquid fuels production is anticipated to increase by a robust 2.7 mb/d in 2025, underscoring the scale of new supply entering the market.

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In stark contrast, global liquid fuels consumption is forecast to grow by a much smaller margin of just 1.1 million b/d in 2025. This disparity will inevitably lead to significant inventory builds. By the fourth quarter of 2025, global oil inventory builds are expected to average 2.6 mb/d. Recognizing this trend, the International Energy Agency (IEA) revised its global oil supply growth forecast for 2025 up by 190,000 bpd. Ultimately, total world crude and liquid fuels production is now forecast to reach 104.4 million b/d in 2025. Some projections even place world oil supply higher, rising by 3.0 mb/d to 106.1 million b/d in 2025, while demand growth is pegged at a more modest 900,000 barrels per day. The oil market surplus since the start of 2025 has already averaged a significant 1.9 mb/d.

Key Findings in Oil Storage Market

Market Forecast (2033)US$ 16.7 BillionCAGR 4.1%Largest Region (2024)Middle East & Africa (36.12%)By Product Type Crude Oil (52.11%)By Storage Type Fixed Roof Oil Storage (50.0%)Top Drivers Rising energy security concerns are fueling strategic petroleum reserve expansions.Significant production growth in the Americas demands new storage infrastructure.Persistent imbalances between crude supply and refinery demand create storage needs.Top Trends Digitalization and artificial intelligence are optimizing terminal operational efficiency.A focused shift towards developing local talent for facility management.Strategic consolidation of core assets to improve cost structures.Top Challenges Geopolitical instability is threatening critical maritime oil transit chokepoints.Shifting global trade flows are creating regional storage capacity imbalances.The accelerating energy transition creates long-term uncertainty for asset planning.

Governments Worldwide Bolster Energy Security Through Strategic Petroleum Reserve Capacity Expansions

Nations across the global oil storage market are aggressively expanding their Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to insulate themselves from supply disruptions, creating a powerful, state-driven demand for new storage infrastructure. China is at the forefront of this movement, adding 11 new oil reserve sites in 2025-26 with a massive combined capacity of roughly 169 million barrels. As of March 31, 2025, China already held an immense 401 million barrels in its above-ground SPR facilities. In addition, China's five underground SPR facilities have a combined operating capacity of 130 million barrels, showcasing a diversified approach to strategic stockpiling.

Following a similar path, India is planning to build six new strategic petroleum reserves to enhance its energy security, adding fuel to the oil storage market growth. The nation's existing SPRs, located in southern India, have a combined capacity of about 5 million tons. One proposed new reserve at Bikaner, India, will have a substantial capacity of 5.2 to 5.3 million tonnes. Furthermore, another planned facility in Mangalore, India, will add another 1.75 million tonnes of capacity. To support these ambitions, India's government has allocated 55.97 billion rupees for SPR oil purchases in 2025-26. A supplementary allocation of approximately 1.8 billion rupees is designated specifically for the operation and maintenance of India's SPRs in 2025.

Surging Crude Oil Output from Non OPEC Plus Nations Drives Storage Infrastructure Needs in Global Oil Storage Market

A significant portion of the global supply glut originates from nations outside the OPEC+ alliance, whose production is surging. Production from non-OPEC+ countries is forecast to rise by a formidable 2.0 mb/d in 2025. Analysts have also projected non-OPEC+ nations will add 1.6 million bpd of oil to the market in 2025, with these gains being revised upwards by 60,000 bpd. In contrast, OPEC+ is expected to add a smaller 1.4 million bpd of oil in 2025. The alliance has been carefully managing supply, having raised its output targets by approximately 2.9 million bpd since April 2025 and agreeing to a smaller increase of 137,000 bpd in December 2025.

The United States is a primary driver of this non-OPEC+ growth in the oil storage market. U.S. crude oil production is forecast to average 13.44 million b/d in 2025, a testament to the efficiency of its shale operations. Some forecasts from August 2024 projected U.S. crude production to reach an even higher average of 13.7 million b/d in 2025. A later forecast in October 2025 moderated slightly, projecting U.S. crude oil production to average 13.5 million b/d for the year. A significant portion of this output comes from the prolific Permian region, where production is forecast to reach 6.6 million b/d in 2025. This relentless production growth necessitates a parallel expansion in the oil storage market.

Shifting Global Trade Routes and Geopolitical Instability Fuel Demand for Floating Storage

Geopolitical tensions and sanctions are fundamentally reshaping global crude oil trade flows, directly impacting the oil storage market. These disruptions often lead to longer voyage times and an increased reliance on floating storage. For instance, Russian crude shipments to Asia can now take up to two months to complete their journey. This is significantly longer than shipments from the Middle East to Asia, which typically take about one month. Consequently, the number of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) used for floating storage increased by a notable 24% as of October 2025 compared to January 2025. The industry is also investing in new capacity, as evidenced by the two new 310,000 deadweight tonnage ammonia-ready VLCCs that were christened in November 2025.

These altered trade dynamics have caused a quantifiable surge in the volume of oil held on water. Total crude and condensate volumes on tankers reached approximately 1.24 billion barrels in the week ending October 17, 2025, an increase from 1.22 billion barrels just a week earlier. The volume of oil stored on ships in the Asia-Pacific oil storage market  hit 53 million barrels at the end of October 2025, representing a surge of around 20 million barrels from early September 2025. In fact, potential floating storage in Asia jumped to about 70 million barrels by the end of October 2025, up from approximately 50 million barrels on October 15, 2025. This trend includes 161 million barrels of Iranian oil held on board ships by the end of September 2025, an increase of 22.5 million barrels from the end of September. The volume of Russian oil on ships in the Asia-Pacific also increased to 6 million barrels in October 2025, while the IEA reported that oil on water reached 102 million barrels in September 2025.

Robust Energy Consumption in Emerging Asian Markets Underpins Long Term Storage Demand

The voracious energy appetite of emerging economies, particularly China, is a foundational pillar of demand in the oil storage market. China's crude oil imports are estimated to be 559 million metric tons in 2025, which is equivalent to about 11.18 million barrels per day. The nation imported an average of over 11 million barrels a day in the first nine months of 2025 alone. Crucially, up to 1.2 million bpd of this massive volume were estimated to be diverted directly into storage, highlighting a strategy of stockpiling in addition to immediate consumption.

This aggressive stockpiling has pushed inventories to new heights. China's commercial oil stocks in the global oil storage market hit an all-time high of 997.3 million barrels in July 2025, a rise of 95 million barrels from July of the previous year. Meanwhile, India's energy needs continue to grow, with the nation consuming nearly 5.5 million barrels of oil per day. Looking ahead, the liquid fuels consumption in India and China is expected to add more than 0.4 million b/d of consumption by 2026 compared with 2024. This sustained demand growth necessitates significant investment in local storage and distribution infrastructure to ensure a steady supply.

Global Refinery Turnaround Cycles Create Significant Short Term Demand for Crude Storage

The operational cycles of refineries have a direct and significant impact on the demand for crude storage. During planned maintenance periods, or turnarounds, refineries reduce or halt their intake of crude oil. This dip in demand from the refining sector means that incoming crude shipments must be diverted to storage facilities. Global refinery downtime is projected to climb to 7.8 Mbd in September 2025 and is expected to rise further to about 8.5 Mbd in October 2025, creating a substantial temporary need for storage.

This trend is also clearly visible at a regional level. North American refinery downtime is expected to rise to 1.6 Mbd in September 2025 and is forecast to reach 1.9 Mbd in October 2025. In the U.S., refinery maintenance of approximately 976,000 bpd of CDU capacity was offline as of February 13, 2025. As a specific example, Delek's 73,000 b/d Big Spring, Texas, refinery will undergo a turnaround in the fourth quarter of 2025. Consequently, global crude runs are set to reach a seasonal low of 81.6 mb/d in October 2025 before refinery runs are forecast to rise by 600 kb/d in 2025. This cyclical pattern ensures a consistent, albeit fluctuating, demand for the oil storage market.

Rising Global and Regional Oil Inventories Underscore a Deepening Market Surplus

The clearest indicator of the growing supply-demand imbalance is the swelling volume of oil held in inventories worldwide. Global observed oil inventories reached a four-year high of 7.91 billion barrels in August 2025. These inventories rose by a substantial 17.7 million barrels in August 2025 alone. This was not an isolated event; global observed oil inventories had already reached 7,836 million barrels in June 2025, which was a 46-month high at the time. This consistent build-up in stocks is a direct consequence of production outpacing consumption.

Data from developed nations further reinforces this trend in the oil storage market. Total OECD inventories rose by 22 million barrels in August 2025, indicating a broad-based inventory build across major economies. In the United States, crude inventories increased by 2.4 million barrels to 420.7 million barrels for the week ending August 29, 2025. Critically, crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub, a key benchmark for the U.S. market, rose by 1.6 million barrels in the last week of August 2025. These rising stockpiles are a physical manifestation of the surplus, creating sustained demand for the oil storage market to absorb the excess barrels.

Emergence of a Contango Market Structure Unlocks Lucrative Oil Storage Opportunities

Beyond physical supply and demand, the structure of the oil futures market is creating powerful financial incentives to store crude oil. When the market enters a state known as "contango," the price of oil for future delivery is higher than the current spot price. This price difference allows traders to buy oil, store it, and simultaneously sell it on the futures market for a guaranteed profit, provided the spread is wide enough to cover storage and financing costs. The conditions are becoming ripe for such a scenario, with forecasts suggesting the oil market surplus could reach around 4 million barrels per day in the early months of 2026.

This potential for a deep contango is supported by IEA forecasts, which anticipate a surplus of 2.3 mb/d in 2025. To put that in perspective, this surplus is 1.6 mb/d higher than the surplus seen in 2020 during the pandemic, a period characterized by a significant contango that filled storage facilities worldwide. Price forecasts also point towards this trend, with the Brent crude oil price forecast to fall to an average of US$ 62 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2025. This downward pressure on spot prices while future prices remain higher creates a lucrative "contango play" that directly fuels demand within the oil storage market.

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Key Players in the Independent Storage Sector Pursue Aggressive Expansion Strategies

Leading operators in the independent oil storage market are responding to these powerful demand signals with aggressive investment and expansion strategies. Royal Vopak, a global leader in the segment, exemplifies this trend. Vopak's worldwide proportional storage capacity stood at an impressive 20.4 million cubic meters as of mid-2025. The company's growth investments in the first half of 2025 were a substantial EUR 189.0 million. Vopak also increased its planned capital expenditures for growth projects in 2024 to 350 million euros, signaling strong confidence in future market demand. A clear example of their forward-looking strategy is the repurposing of 15,000 cubic meters of capacity in Alemoa, Brazil, for renewable feedstock in 2024.

Vopak’s expansion is global in scope. The company is investing its share of €462 million in a new large-scale LPG export terminal in Canada, diversifying its asset base. Additionally, it has invested €63 million in proportional growth capital for capacity expansion in key growth markets like Saudi Arabia and China in 2024. In the Americas, Vopak will assume operational control of Chevron's 470,000 cubic meter storage facility in Panama. This move is complemented by ambitious plans to build and operate an additional 655,000 cubic meters of new independent storage capacity in Panama. These strategic investments underscore the immense growth opportunities perceived by major players in the oil storage market.

Global Oil Storage Market Major Players:

Buckeye Partners L.P.CST Industries Inc.Denali Incorporated (National Oilwell Varco Inc.)Energy Transfer LPL.F. ManufacturingOiltanking GmbH (Marquard & Bahls)Royal Vopak N.V.Shawcor Ltd.Synalloy CorporationSnyder Industries LLCVTTI B.V.Ziemann Holvrieka GmbH.Other Prominent Players

Key Maret Segmentation:

By Storage Type

Open Top TanksFixed Roof TanksFloating Roof TanksOther Storage Facilities

By Product Type

Crude OilGasolineAviation FuelMiddle DistillatesLPGDieselOthers

By Material

SteelCarbon SteelFiberglass-reinforced Plastic (FRP)

By Reserve Type

Strategic Petroleum ReserveCommercial Petroleum Reserve

By Region

North AmericaEuropeAsia PacificMiddle East and AfricaSouth America

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