Saudi Arabian diesel and gasoline exports reached record heights in January as the world’s largest oil exporter continues its compliance to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) output cut deal.
Crude output remained under the nation’s assigned quota, but the Kingdom increased diesel and gasoline and other fuel shipments by 27 percent to 1.912 million barrels per day in January, the Joint Organizations Data Initiative in Riyadh said. The figure demonstrates Saudi’s aggressive export agenda, which outpaces fuel export rates from October 2016—the month which served as the reference month for determining crude output quotas.
The KSA has spent the last few years expanding domestic refining capacity to keep revenues strong during market downturns. Total Saudi exports of crude and refined fuels stood at 9.082 million barrels per day in January, which is the most since December 2016.
The country will keep its crude exports below 7 million bpd in April as it stays committed to drawing down excess global inventories and boost oil prices, according to an announcement by the Saudi energy ministry last week.
“Despite nominations coming in at 100,000 barrels a day, higher than the previous month, allocations were maintained on par with their March levels,” the ministry said.
For March, Saudi Arabia had pledged to cut additional 100,000 bpd of its oil production and keep its exports below 7 million bpd in a bid to help clear the global oversupply and counteract the oil market volatility in February. The Saudi energy ministry said back in February that oil exports would continue to be below 7 million bpd in March, despite the 400,000-bpd SAMREF refinery shutting down for planned maintenance.
The Saudi energy ministry told Reuters that Saudi Arabia and the other countries part of the production cut deal renewed through 2018 “remain committed to pursuing the common objective of restoring inventories back to their normal levels.”
By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com
