Bengaluru — Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports fell for a third straight month in June to their lowest since September 2021, data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Wednesday, with big Asian buyers favouring cheaper Russian oil.
The kingdom’s crude exports totalled 6.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in June, down about 1.8% from May’s 6.93 million bpd.
Monthly export figures are provided by Riyadh and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to the JODI, which publishes them on its website.
Saudi crude output in June was little changed from the previous month at 9.96 million bpd while inventories rose by 1.45 million barrels to 149.69 million.
Domestic refineries processed 28,000 bpd less crude in June than in May at 2.56 million bpd while direct crude burn rose by 65,000 bpd to 543,000 bpd.
The country’s oil products exports fell 26,000 bpd from previous month to 1.35 million bpd in June.
Indian imports of Russian oil edged to a record high in June, tanker data from trade sources showed last month.
China’s imports of crude oil from Russia also rose to a record high in June, government data showed, with refiners continuing to snap up Russian ESPO even as discounts against international benchmarks narrowed.
Saudi Arabia this month said it will extend a voluntary oil output cut of 1 million bpd for a third month to include September, adding that the reduction could be extended beyond that or deepened.
The kingdom raised September prices for most of its crude to Asia after announcing the extended production cut.
*Brijesh Patel, Editing: David Goodman – Reuters
