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NewsRescue
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, saw its oil sales fall to a five-month low in April, according to figures released on Monday by the Joint Organizations figures Initiative (JODI).
According to the JODI Oil database, which aggregates self-reported data from almost 50 countries, the kingdom’s crude exports fell by 207,000 barrels per day (bpd) from March to 7.32 million bpd.
The decline came just a month before the first of many voluntary curbs agreed upon by Riyadh and several major OPEC+ producers, including Russia, went into force in May.
The daily cutbacks of around 1.66 million barrels through the end of 2023 were added to prior agreements, bringing the total OPEC+ output reduction to 3.66 million barrels per day, or 3.7% of world oil consumption.
Saudi Arabia has agreed to cut oil production by 500,000 barrels per day under the new agreement. Furthermore, the alliance’s top producer declared a one-million-bpd unilateral decrease for July, which might be prolonged beyond next month.
According to JODI data, Saudi Arabia produced 10.46 million bpd in April, a 3,000 bpd decrease from the previous month.
In April, closing stocks of Saudi crude oil and oil products grew by 372,000 barrels to 235.5 million barrels. According to the JODI statistics, product inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels while crude inventories increased by 1.98 million barrels. In April, Saudi Arabia’s direct crude burn jumped by 35,000 bpd to 389,000 bpd.
Simultaneously, diesel imports into the country increased by 71,000 bpd month on month, reaching their highest level since November 2018. Saudi Arabia has increased its purchases of diesel from Russia, a fellow OPEC+ producer, in order to purchase fuels banned in the EU due to Ukraine-related sanctions.
