Western sanctions on Russia and Iran have led to an unprecedented buildup of oil held on tankers at sea, effectively absorbing excess supply and preventing a global glut, the head of commodities trader Gunvor Group said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
“Through the sanctions that we’ve had around the world, an enormous amount of oil is stuck and dislocated,” Torbjorn Tornqvist, Gunvor’s chief executive, told the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi.
“This is unprecedented, the size of that. Therefore, obviously, if all sanctions would disappear, this market would clearly be quite oversupplied,” he added.
The European Union, United Kingdom and the United States have imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine, including new US measures last month targeting Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia’s two biggest oil producers.
Washington and its allies have also maintained restrictions on Iran’s crude exports over its nuclear program and regional activities.
Traders and analysts say the curbs have redrawn global energy flows, forcing sanctioned crude onto “dark fleet” tankers and into longer, less transparent routes that keep large volumes in transit or storage.
Tornqvist said that while the market remains tight on paper, the hidden inventory floating offshore represents a “buffer” that could quickly weigh on prices if restrictions were eased.
“Effectively, we have a shadow market operating alongside the official one,” he said, noting that the structure of the global oil trade has become more fragmented and less efficient as a result of sanctions.
Oil prices have traded in a narrow range in recent weeks, with Brent crude hovering around $84 per barrel as investors weigh supply risks from the Middle East and the lingering impact of Western sanctions on sanctioned producers.
At the same conference, Marco Dunand, chief executive and co-founder of Mercuria Energy Group, one of the world’s largest independent energy traders, said that while global inventories remain low, the volume of oil held at sea is rising, signaling a gradual build-up of surplus supply.
He added that Western sanctions continue to act as a “wild card” in determining how much crude reaches the market, estimating that a potential surplus of around two million barrels per day could narrow to about one million.
“The glut is forming slowly,” Dunand said, “and will probably start to hit the market in the next few months.”
According to the report, local officials in Golestan Province said years of neglect and slow implementation of restoration projects have pushed the gulf -- once a vital ecosystem for fisheries and wetlands -- close to collapse.
Abdollah Aghaalikhani, director-general of the provincial inspection organization, told Tasnim that several measures approved by Iran’s National Wetlands Restoration Committee “have not been implemented.”
He added, “Some agencies at the national level are behind the scheduled timelines for the interventions, and negligence has been observed.”
Aghaalikhani warned that research indicates “there are only three to five years left” to save the Gorgan Gulf, calling for a chain of coordinated actions to stabilize the ecosystem.
He added that the oversight body is “seriously and continuously monitoring implementation of executive commitments, including dredging, water pumping, and completion of coastal wastewater treatment plants.”
Abdoljalal Eiri, a lawmaker representing coastal constituencies in Golestan, told Tasnim that parliament has allocated 10 trillion rials (about $9 million) for the gulf’s restoration in next year’s budget, but said the Environment Department must first conduct a comprehensive study to use the funds effectively.
“Legal obligations exist to rescue Gorgan Gulf, and any agency that has failed to act will be held accountable,” Eiri said.
He added that he has filed complaints against the Environment Department and the Plan and Budget Organization under Article 234 of Parliament’s internal rules “for negligence in implementing legal duties.”
Tasnim added that the Gulf, once a thriving link between the Caspian Sea and Miankaleh Wetland, has been shrinking due to declining Caspian water levels, sedimentation, and rising temperatures.
Dredging of a key canal linking the gulf to the sea began under former President Ebrahim Raisi in 2022, but locals say renewed sedimentation has rendered navigation nearly impossible.
Environmental experts have warned that failure to restore water flow could turn parts of northern Iran into new dust storm zones, threatening local fisheries and livelihoods.
Tasnim wrote that the Gorgan Gulf, once known as “the jewel of northern Iran,” may vanish within a few years unless dredging, pumping, and wastewater control projects are implemented “without further delay.”
In Mashhad, the report said, grave prices have reached record levels. Plots in municipal cemeteries range from sixty million rials (about $55) in public sections to more than 18 billion rials (around $16,700) for private family plots.
Mashhad is home to the burial site of the eighth Shia Imam.
In cemeteries near or inside the shrine itself, graves cost between 1 billion and 14 billion rials (roughly $925 to $12,950) depending on the location.
Iran's state-run Supreme Labor Council has set the base salary at roughly 104.4 million rials. At current market rates at about 1,080,000 rials per dollar, that monthly wage is worth about $95–$110 depending on benefits, compared with about $238–$300 in 2016.
The exorbitant prices have driven many urban families to seek cheaper grave options in rural areas, the report said.
“City people have filled our village cemetery,” said Fatemeh, a resident of a village near Mashhad. “They bury their dead here because it’s free, but now we no longer have space for our own.”
Residents in neighboring villages also said outsiders bring bodies at night to avoid restrictions, prompting local officials to consider fencing off village cemeteries.
Families interviewed by Shargh described how the rising costs have turned burials into a display of social status. One woman said her family spent nearly 20 billion rials (about $18,500) to honor her grandmother’s wish to be buried near the shrine.
“We had to sell everything to fulfill her will,” she said.
Another mourner said she faced criticism for burying her father outside the shrine: “It’s become a matter of prestige – people boast about where their dead are buried.”
National trend: the business of death
Across Iran, burial prices have become a nationwide controversy. In Tehran’s main cemetery, some family plots sell for several billion rials, while officials insist prices follow city council regulations. Reports have also surfaced of an underground grave mafia profiting from limited space in older cemeteries in Shiraz and Isfahan.
Tehran’s city council recently confirmed that a three-tier grave costs about 330 million rials (around $305), with the first burial officially free and the next two layers reserved for relatives. The policy, however, has fueled confusion and criticism online.
The municipalities in cooperation with the ministry of health drafted new regulations last June to improve standards in cemeteries. However, there are still no laws defining or limiting grave prices.
“There is no law regarding the price of graves, and the only limits are those approved by the city council,” Marzieh Mohebbi, a legal expert, told Shargh.
Under Iranian law, she added, pre-purchasing a grave is considered the sale of a right of use – “something similar to a permanent lease” – and cannot be transferred to another person.
