Saudi Arabia oil exports fall to 6.977m bpd in Feb

Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports fell by 277,000 barrels per day (bpd) in February from the month before, official data showed on Thursday.

The world’s top oil exporter shipped 6.977 million bpd in February, down from 7.254 million bpd in January, according to data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI). It pumped 10.136 million bpd in February, down from 10.243 million bpd in January.

Saudi crude inventories rose to 204.567 million barrels in February from 200.834 million in January, the JODI data showed. Saudi oil stocks peaked in October 2015 at a record 329.430 million barrels.

Saudi’s local refineries processed 2.767 million bpd in February, up from 2.758 million bpd in January, according to JODI. Exports of refined oil products in February fell to 1.461 million bpd, from 1.616 million bpd the month before, the data showed.

The OPEC heavyweight used 259,000 bpd of crude oil to generate power in February, down from 377,000 bpd the month before, while Saudi demand for oil products in February was 2.157 million bpd, up slightly from 2.073 million bpd in January, according to the data.

Monthly export figures are provided by Riyadh and other members of OPEC to JODI, which publishes them on its website.