Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports rose to above 6 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, to the highest volume in six months, as the OPEC+ alliance continued to ease their supply cuts.
The world’s largest oil exporter saw its crude exports hit 6.327 million bpd in July, up by around 360,000 from June, data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Thursday.
The July crude export levels were the highest since January this year, when the Kingdom’s exports averaged 6.582 million bpd, according to JODI, which compiles self-reported data from the countries. January was also the last time when the Saudis exported more than 6 million bpd, before this past July.
In June, Saudi crude oil exports averaged 5.965 million bpd, JODI data showed last month, as the world’s top oil exporter, and the entire OPEC+ group continued to ease the cuts amid recovering global demand.
In July, total Saudi oil exports—including crude oil and total oil products—rose further month-on-month by 327,000 bpd to 7.65 million bpd, according to JODI.
In January 2021, the Saudis surprised the market with the decision for a unilateral cut of 1 million bpd, while the OPEC+ group was only slightly easing the cuts due to the concessions to Russia and Kazakhstan.
At the following OPEC+ meeting in early March, Saudi Arabia surprised the market yet again, saying it would keep the extra cut into April instead of only in February and March as originally planned. OPEC+ decided not to ease the cuts in April—except for a combined 150,000 bpd increase for Russia and Kazakhstan—as the group was looking to tighten the market and keep its powder dry until it sees tangible proof of rebound in global oil demand.
Starting in August, OPEC+ plans to add 400,000 bpd of supply every month until all 5.8 million bpd remaining cuts are restored.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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