With oil prices up 36.5% this year and producers keeping taps wide open, where are all those petrodollars flowing to? One clue comes Monday from a report by the Bank for International Settlements. In a quarterly report, BIS said oil-exporters are pumping a bigger share of their wealth into dollar-denominated assets in the past year.

While Saudi Arabia, its Gulf neigbhors and fellow OPEC members have pledged to boost investment in the U.S. oil refining network, after oil prices shot up above $70 a barrel due to tight petroleum products supplies, no concrete plans have yet emerged. In fact, Kuwait, following the Saudis last week, plans to boost its presence in China, where rampant growth in oil demand has underpinned the near-term forecast for oil prices.
Investors from Dubai recently announced they’re putting their petrodollars into the regal Essex House hotel in New York City. Despite the prime location in the heart of the world’s largest heating oil market, there’s no word that the $50 million renovation will include an oil refinery.

Some others in the hunt for petrodollars have been rounded up at
Roubini Global Economics.