Crude oil exports from the world’s largest oil exporter fell to 6.988 million barrels per day, down from 7.378 million bpd in November and its lowest since September, data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative showed on Thursday.
Saudi Arabia’s crude output stood at about 10.084 million bpd in December, its highest since April 2023. Output in November stood at 10.050 million bpd.
“Crude oil was used domestically or for refining it into products and exporting it, as despite moderately higher crude production, total Saudi inventories of crude and refined products were lower,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.
Monthly export figures are provided by Riyadh and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI), a data transparency initiative coordinated by international energy organisations, including OPEC and the International Energy Agency.
Refinery crude throughput in Saudi Arabia rose to 2.738 million bpd in December, an almost 7% gain from November’s 2.560 million bpd, the JODI data showed, while direct crude burning decreased by 107,000 bpd to 210,000 bpd.
The fall in Saudi Arabia’s exports comes ahead of a potential shift in OPEC+ supply policy.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported, citing three OPEC+ sources, that OPEC+ was leaning towards a resumption in oil output increases from April.
OPEC had forecast that world oil demand from the OPEC+ group will drop by 400,000 barrels per day in the second quarter, and published data indicating a small surplus in that quarter.
The International Energy Agency said earlier this month that world oil demand will rise more slowly than expected this year, while warning the global market still faces a sizeable surplus despite outages that cut supply in January.
(Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru. Editing by Jane Merriman)