SunSirs: Saudi Arabia's Crude Oil Exports Decreased in December 2023, following Three Consecutive Months of Increase

According to foreign sources on February 19th, data released by the Joint Oil Database (JODI) on Monday showed that Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports decreased for the first time in four months in December. The country is the world's largest exporter of crude oil.

Data shows that Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports in December were 6.308 million barrels per day, a decrease of 0.4% from the previous month's 6.336 million barrels per day.

Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) provide monthly export data to the Joint Oil Database (JODI), which publishes this data on its website.

Saudi Arabia's crude oil production increased to 8.944 million barrels per day in December.

On January 30th, the Saudi government ordered state-owned oil company Aramco to suspend its oil expansion plan and maintain its maximum sustainable production capacity (MSC) at 12 million barrels per day. This is 1 million barrels per day lower than the target announced in 2020 and set to be achieved in 2027.

This month, Saudi Arabia unexpectedly kept the price of its flagship Arab light crude oil sold to Asia in March unchanged, at a low level of over two years, due to its desire to maintain market share.

Contrary to the views of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced last week that global oil demand growth in 2024 is expected to be 1.22 million barrels per day, lower than the previously expected 1.24 million barrels per day.

Driven by non OPEC supply, the IEA has revised its global oil supply growth forecast for 2024 to 1.7 million barrels per day, reaching a record high of 103.8 million barrels per day, compared to a previously estimated growth of 1.5 million barrels per day.

The IEA stated that global oil demand growth is losing momentum and the expansion rate will slow down from last year's 2.3 million barrels per day.

According to data from December, the crude oil processing volume of Saudi Arabian refineries increased by 326,000 barrels per day to 2.415 million barrels per day; Direct crude oil combustion decreased by 198,000 barrels per day to 303,000 barrels per day, the lowest level since February 2022.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact SunSirs with support@sunsirs.com.