Saudi Arabia's March crude oil exports fall to record low

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Recently, data released by the Joint Organization Data Initiative (JODI) showed that Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports plummeted to 4.974 million barrels per day in March, a sharp drop of 31.6 from 7.276 million barrels per day in February, a record low since the data began to be tracked. Saudi crude oil production also fell from 10.882 million barrels per day in February to 6.967 million barrels per day, also the lowest level in history. Affected by operational disruptions in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has launched an emergency plan to push the east-west pipeline to maximum capacity, but there are still significant bottlenecks in the export capacity of the Red Sea terminal.

According to JODI data, Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports in March were only 4.974 million barrels per day, down 2.302 million barrels per day from February, a drop of greater than 30%. This figure is well below the level of about 7.5 million barrels per day in the same period in 2024 and also breaks the previous record low set during the 2020 epidemic. In terms of production, Saudi crude oil production was only 6.967 million barrels per day in March, down 3.915 million barrels per day from the previous month. Refinery processing fell simultaneously, by 746000 barrels per day to 2.266 million barrels per day. At the same time, the amount of crude oil immediately burned in Saudi Arabia increased by 82000 barrels per day to 330000 barrels per day. This set of data shows that Saudi Arabia has not only significantly reduced upstream output due to the blockage of major transportation routes, however has also diverted some of the crude oil that should have been exported to domestic power generation and refining.

In the face of the shipping blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia activated an emergency agreement to push the east-west pipeline connecting the eastern oil-producing region to the Yanbu terminal in the Red Sea to a maximum operating rate of 7 million barrels per day. However, while the east-west pipeline has a capacity of 7 million barrels per day, the logistics facilities at Yanbu Port severely limit the amount of crude oil that can actually be shipped to export. (Zhao Hua)

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