Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports fell to 6.047 million barrels per day (bpd) in June from 6.118 million bpd in May, data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Tuesday.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT?
Saudi Arabia is world’s largest exporter of crude oil. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is set to begin unwinding a level of production cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day from October.
Earlier this month OPEC lowered its demand growth outlook for the first time in a year, citing softer expectations for China. Meanwhile, China and Saudi Arabia were the top destinations for Russian seaborne fuel oil and vacuum gasoil (VGO) exports in July.
BY THE NUMBERS
Crude exports from the world’s largest oil exporter fell by 1.2% to 6.047 million barrels per day (bpd) in June. The country’s crude production fell to 8.830 million bpd in June from 8.993 million bpd in the prior month.
Data also showed that Saudi refineries’ crude throughput fell by 0.523 million bpd to 2.423 million bpd and direct crude burning increased by 160,000 bpd to 558.000 bpd in June.
CONTEXT
Monthly export figures are provided by Riyadh and other members of OPEC to JODI, which publishes them on its website.
Saudi Arabia raised the price for the flagship Arab light crude it sells to Asia in September for the first time in three months. The price was a two-month high, but the hike was less than the market had expected.
Last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) kept its 2024 global oil demand growth forecast unchanged but trimmed its 2025 estimate, citing the impact of lackluster Chinese consumption on economic growth. China’s oil refinery output in July fell 6.1% from a year earlier, down for a fourth month, data showed earlier this month.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Rahul Paswan in Bengaluru; Editing by David Holmes)
