Saudi Arabia trimmed its exports, tapering production available to markets by 2.4% – or 237,000 barrels a day – in December, according to latest figures from the International Energy Forum’s Joint Organisation Data Initiative (JODI).
OPEC’s largest crude producer reduced output to 9.81 million barrels a day of crude compared with 10.047 million in November, the data showed, with exports cut from 7.8 million bpd to 7.36 million bpd, including condensates and excluding natural-gas liquids.
The reductions were announced as supply fears over Iran have pushed the Brent benchmark to over $121 a barrel and euro-denominated oil prices to all time highs. Saudi has been called on by both European and Asian customers to stabilise supply as sanctions against Iran take hold.
Saudi consumed less fuel domestically month-on-month, bucking a trend of consistent demand growth which may one day put severe pressure on Saudi’s ability to respond to international demand, says Jadwa, a Saudi investment bank.
Other OPEC producers upped production in December. Nigeria, according Reuters news, increased its exports by eight per cent to 2.27 million barrels a day, benefiting from higher crude oil prices.
Venezuela boosted exports by 18.7 per cent to 1.71 million barrels a day while Iraq increased exports by 0.5 per cent to 2.15 million barrels a day, data the government submitted to the initiative and posted yesterday on its website showed.
Iran, OPEC’s second-largest producer, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Libya didn’t submit data for the month.
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