Oil production in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of crude, rose to the highest level in more than 30 years in August and exports also increased as the Opec nation sought to offset a global shortfall fuelled by unrest in Libya.
The latest official data show crude output jumped to 10.190mn bpd, the highest level since at least 1980, compared with 10.034mn bpd in July. Exports rose 4.4% during the same period.
That is the highest level since at least 1980, when the country, the only producer with significant flexibility to turn its spigots on and off, opened the taps to make up for a sharp fall in Iran’s output after that country’s 1979 revolution.
The kingdom exported 7.795mn bpd of crude oil and condensate, up from 7.470mn bpd in July.
The figures were obtained from the Joint Organisation Data Initiative website. JODI is supervised by the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum and shows data supplied directly by governments dating to 2002.
Saudi Arabia used 752,000 bpd in power stations and water-desalination plants in August, down from the 779,000 bpd during the corresponding period in 2012 and also down from the 757,000 bpd consumed a month earlier.
Protests by the security guards shut down several of Libya’s eastern export ports in August, sending oil exports plunging to levels below those prior to the 2011 civil war that toppled longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi.
