Saudi Arabia exported just under 6.2 million barrels of crude Oil per day in May, according to data from the Joint Official Data Initiative (JODI), Commerzbank's commodity analyst Carsten Fritsch notes.
"This was 1.2% more than in the previous year and slightly more than in the previous month. The main reason for the higher exports was the increase in Oil production to 9.18 million barrels per day as a result of the OPEC+ agreement. In addition, crude Oil processing by refineries fell by 7.6% to 2.72 million barrels per day in May."
"Exports of Oil products rose by 12.2% year-on-year to 1.37 million barrels per day. The increase was driven by significantly stronger exports of gasoline and aviation fuels, while diesel exports declined slightly compared with the previous year. Nevertheless, the latter remained the largest single item among product exports at almost 600,000 barrels per day. Saudi Arabia's crude Oil consumption for electricity generation was 23% higher in May than in the previous year."
"However, at 48,000 barrels per day, the level is not particularly high. The JODI data for June should be much more interesting, as it will show whether last month's sharp rise in Oil production led to higher exports or not. The significantly higher Oil exports to China in June suggest that Saudi Arabia also exported more Oil overall in June."