Saudi Arabia’s crude exports drop to 28-month low in August

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Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports in August hit their lowest level in 28 months as they fell for a fifth straight month, data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Monday.

Crude exports from the world’s largest oil exporter fell to 5.58 million barrels per day (bpd), down 7.1% from 6.01 million bpd in July and the lowest since April 2021.

Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to combined voluntary oil supply cuts of 1.3 million bpd, or more than 1% of global demand, until the end of the year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin this month indicated that OPEC+ supply reductions would last well into 2024 and likely beyond, a measure that is nearly guaranteed to support oil prices.

Saudi crude output fell to 8.92 million bpd in August, down 95,000 bpd from July, while inventories rose by 4.16 million barrels to 150.89 million.

Domestic refineries processed 2,900 bpd less crude at 2.53 million bpd in August, while direct crude burn rose by 134,000 bpd to 726,000 bpd. The country’s oil products exports rose by 182,000 bpd to 1.33 million bpd in August.

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Monthly export figures are provided by Riyadh and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to JODI, which publishes them on its website.

Crude oil prices surged following a incursion into Israel from Gaza initiated by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Oct. 7.

Separately, Saudi Arabia raised the November official selling price for its Arab light crude for Asian buyers for a fifth straight month.

Elsewhere, U.S. crude oil production hit a new high at 13.2 million bpd in the week to Oct. 6, surpassing a 2020 peak hit before the pandemic reduced global oil demand.

(Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely)