*Saudi Arabia’s crude output is down 9% year-on-year at 8.96mn b/d for 9M 2024 but has remained remarkably steady at around this level since the kingdom signed up for additional voluntary Opec+ output cuts from July 2023 (MEES, 9 June 2023). With these and other Opec+ cuts set to remain fully in place until January 2025 at least (MEES, 8 November), it is now all but guaranteed that 2024 will see Saudi Arabia notch up the lowest annual output figure since 2010’s 8.51mn b/d, with revenues also well down (MEES, 25 October).
*And Saudi crude exports are down by substantially more than output. Though Q3’s output was flat year-on-year, latest Jodi data (see table) show that the quarter’s crude exports figure of 5.72mn b/d was down 62,000 b/d on the already low year-ago figure for the second lowest since 2010 (2Q 2021 was fractionally lower at 5.67mn b/d). As a share of the kingdom’s crude output, 3Q 2024’s exports accounted for just 63.8%, the lowest figure bar none in Jodi data going back to the start of 2010. This was also the case for the share of crude supply (output less net stock changes), of which 3Q 2024’s crude exports accounted for 63.2%. In contrast, the share of crude supply that was refined domestically, at 29.0% for Q3, was only fractionally above the record of 29.2% set in 3Q 2023, whilst the 7.7% of crude output that was directly burned in power plants was a 10-year high (see charts 1 & 2). (CONTINUED - 736 WORDS)
