Total said on Thursday it was storing crude oil on land and estimated 100 million barrels of crude were held in floating vessels around the world.
An oil price structure known as a contango has encouraged oil companies to store crude oil in tanks on land and tankers anchored at sea with a view to selling it for a profit later.
The trade is profitable when the front-month discount is bigger than the monthly cost of storage.
"In terms of vessels I think you have 100 million barrels of crude (globally)," Jean-Jacques Mosconi, head of strategy and planning at Total, told the Reuters Global Energy Summit.
"It's a good idea when you have a strong trading division, which is our case ... you are playing with the difference between the prompt price and the future price."
Mosconi said Total was not using floating storage, but had rented onshore storage in Singapore and South Korea. He did not give further details.
"It is the same -- it's like storing on a vessel," he said.
Mosconi said contango, or a market structure in which prompt contracts are cheaper than those for later delivery, was a strong indication of the health of the oil market.
"When the contango is shrinking, it will also be a good signal that the economy is actually recovering ... it is not enough to look at price we look at every day," he said. "When the contango is shrinking, it means that people are more confident in the short-term market."
No official figures exist for floating stocks.
Last week, trade sources said crude oil in floating storage had fallen to around 90 million barrels from around 100 million barrels, as prompt crude prices rose and narrowed the discount to prices further out.
An oil price structure known as a contango has encouraged oil companies to store crude oil in tanks on land and tankers anchored at sea with a view to selling it for a profit later.
The trade is profitable when the front-month discount is bigger than the monthly cost of storage.
"In terms of vessels I think you have 100 million barrels of crude (globally)," Jean-Jacques Mosconi, head of strategy and planning at Total, told the Reuters Global Energy Summit.
"It's a good idea when you have a strong trading division, which is our case ... you are playing with the difference between the prompt price and the future price."
Mosconi said Total was not using floating storage, but had rented onshore storage in Singapore and South Korea. He did not give further details.
"It is the same -- it's like storing on a vessel," he said.
Mosconi said contango, or a market structure in which prompt contracts are cheaper than those for later delivery, was a strong indication of the health of the oil market.
"When the contango is shrinking, it will also be a good signal that the economy is actually recovering ... it is not enough to look at price we look at every day," he said. "When the contango is shrinking, it means that people are more confident in the short-term market."
No official figures exist for floating stocks.
Last week, trade sources said crude oil in floating storage had fallen to around 90 million barrels from around 100 million barrels, as prompt crude prices rose and narrowed the discount to prices further out.