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(Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s crude exports in January rose to 6.993 million barrels per day from 6.988 million bpd in December while crude output hit its highest since April 2023, data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Wednesday.
The world’s largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia currently faces trouble exporting as war in Iran reduces tanker traffic out of the Gulf to a trickle.
Saudi production in January stood at about 10.100 million bpd, the JODI data showed, up from 10.084 million bpd in December.
“With the Group of Eight of the OPEC+ keeping their production quota unchanged in January versus December, the Saudi production and export numbers remained closely near the December levels,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.
“March data will likely be considerably lower, as all Gulf states are impacted by the Strait of Hormuz flow disruption. That said, the Kingdom has been transferring more crude via its pipeline to the Red Sea, to be exported from there,” Staunovo said.
Gulf countries including Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have cut oil production by at least 10 million bpd, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Benchmark Brent crude prices have also surged to their highest levels since mid-2022, up almost 50% this month, prompting the IEA to announce a record release from strategic stockpiles to offset shortages and a spike in prices.
Earlier this month, OPEC said Saudi Arabia had sharply increased oil production in February ahead of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and kept its forecasts for relatively strong global oil demand growth this year.
Saudi’s refinery crude throughput in January rose by 2.4% to 2.805 million bpd from December’s 2.738 million bpd, the JODI data showed, while direct crude burning increased by 17,000 bpd to 227,000 bpd.
Monthly export figures are provided by Riyadh and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to JODI, a data transparency initiative coordinated by energy organisations including OPEC and the IEA.
Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely
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