Saudi Arabia has been producing crude at over 10mn b/d for 15 straight months: for April its output was 10.26mn b/d. But an increased focus on domestic refining (MEES, 20 May) means that the volume of crude reaching export markets has been rising by much less. And the rest of the market has not been standing still: Iraq, Russia, and of course Iran, have all been eating into Saudi market share in its core Asian markets.
State firm Aramco is increasingly adopting the tactic of ‘moving downstream’ in consumer markets as well. It this week firmed up plans to invest in refining capacity in Indonesia (MEES, 27 May), and earlier added core market India to the list of countries where it plans to develop downstream capacity (MEES, 11 March). (CONTINUED - 209 WORDS)
