Saudi Arabia’s remarkable efforts to overcome the impact of September’s Abqaiq attacks paid dividends, as a major stock drawdown helped it maintain crude supplies to customers. Arguably more concerning for Riyadh is that it appears stuck in a lower-for-longer scenario where it’s forced to maintain deep production cuts just to prevent prices from collapsing (MEES, 15 November).
The latest Jodi stats show that the kingdom pulled a whopping 675,000 b/d out of its global crude stockpiles to ensure reliable supplies to customers in September as it fought to ride out the post-Abqaiq attack turbulence. Stocks had already been on a downwards trend since peaking at 329mn barrels in October 2015, and tumbled 20mn barrels in September to 153mn barrels (see table for data). (CONTINUED - 978 WORDS)
