(EDITOR'S NOTE: Also see Oil Glut Conspiracy & Other Speculative Bubbles by AL MARTIN


(November 20, 2009) More than 50 oil tankers are anchored off Britain -- pieces in a game in which the only winners are market speculators.

The losers are the millions of British motorists paying over the odds for their petrol and diesel.

After yesterday's report in the Daily Mail on how several so-called 'oil shark' tankers were moored near the Devon coast, dozens more vessels were revealed to be loitering off-shore.

Some are carrying aircraft fuel or fuel for homes. Others are empty, waiting to be restocked before setting off around the globe.

But according to industry experts, a significant number are 'oil sharks' -- tankers that have been cynically told to wait for crude prices to be driven up before they unload their cargo.

With values soaring on the international markets, fuel made from their oil is unlikely to appear on a petrol station forecourt any day soon.