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Saudi Arabia’s crude exports plummeted to a more than two-year low last month as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies slashed production to boost oil prices.
Shipments from the world’s biggest exporter of crude oil dropped to approximately 5.6 million barrels a day, the lowest since March 2021, Bloomberg reported on Friday. August’s oil exports are down from 6.3 million barrels a day in July.
Flows to China recorded multiyear lows, falling to 1.3 million barrels per day, the lowest since June 2020. Exports to most destinations, including the US also hit multiyear lows, with flows to Japan and South Korea dropping to the lowest levels since 2017, when Bloomberg began tracking the data.
Saudi Arabia and Russia recently announced they would slash oil supply. The kingdom pledged in July a cut of 1 million barrels a day until the end of August, while Russia aimed to cut supplies by 500,000 barrels per day in the same month.
The supply cut is meant to “reinforce the precautionary efforts made by OPEC+ countries with the aim of supporting the stability and balance of oil markets,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted a Ministry of Energy source as saying.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
