Saudi Arabian crude oil exports in August rose by about 7.9% from July to 4.451mn barrels per day, the highest level since March, data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative showed on Wednesday.
The exports rose even as oil production fell to a record low of 6.24mn bpd from 8.135mn bpd in July.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries provide monthly export figures for publishing on the JODI website.
As exports increased, Saudi refinery crude throughput dropped by 181,000 bpd to 2.297mn bpd in August from 2.478mn bpd the previous month, the data showed. Direct crude-burning increased by 43,000 bpd to 604,097 bpd.
Shipments from the Middle East have been severely disrupted since the US-Israeli war with Iran, begun at the end of February, led Iran to block exports through the Strait of Hormuz.
“Despite regional tensions, Saudi Arabia was able to further restore crude export volumes by leveraging terminals on both coasts,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. He also said he expected the recovery would have continued into September and October.
There is no sign the conflict is easing and attacks on Saudi Arabia have increased.
The headquarters of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco in the eastern city of Dhahran was attacked last week, causing what the kingdom’s energy ministry said in a statement was a limited fire, as fighting between Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthis and the kingdom intensified.
Oil prices jumped by more than $2 on Wednesday after Iran said there was little reason to expect diplomatic progress with the US, leaving the Brent benchmark hovering near five-month highs, with further market support from falling US crude and product inventories.
Brent crude futures gained $2.06, or 1.9%, to $110.85 a barrel by 1048 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up $2.13, or 2.2%, at $99.95.
In the previous session, Brent hit its highest in five months while WTI touched a six-month peak before prices fell back on discussions on mediation efforts in a meeting between Iran’s president and Pakistan’s army chief in Tehran.
