Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports in May fell to a 19-month low, data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Monday, as cheap Russian oil lured some big Asian buyers.
Crude exports from the world’s largest oil exporter fell to 6.93 million barrels per day (bpd) in May, their lowest since October 2021, and down about 5.3% from 7.32 million bpd in April.
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.
Saudi crude output fell by 502,000 bpd from April to 9.96 million bpd in May, while inventories fell by 1.16 million barrels to 148.24 million.
Domestic refineries processed 100,000 bpd less crude at 2.59 million bpd, while direct crude burn rose 89,000 bpd in May to 478,000 bpd. The country’s oil products exports fell 174,000 bpd to 1.37 million bpd in May.
India’s oil imports from Russia rose to a fresh record high in May, further reducing the share of Middle Eastern and African grades, data obtained from trade and industry sources showed last month.
China’s oil imports from Russia also jumped to a record high in May, Chinese government data showed, as private refiners shored up sanctioned ESPO and Urals crude shipments at discounts.
Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia extended its voluntary output cut of 1 million bpd to August while Russia and Algeria volunteered to lower their August output and export levels by 500,000 bpd and 20,000 bpd, respectively.
(Reporting by Brijesh Patel and Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely)