Al KHOBAR: Saudi Arabia produced 9.3 million barrels per day (b/d) of oil in April, up from 9.14 million bpd in March, an industry source said yesterday.
Supply to the domestic and export markets was around 9.2m b/d, up slightly from the 9.15m b/d supplied in March, the source said. The other 100,000b/d of oil produced is likely to have been put into storage.
Sources familiar with Saudi oil policy said in late April that they expected external demand for Saudi crude to remain steady from March through June 2013.
But Saudi Arabia’s own crude oil demand for power generation has jumped by an average of 147,000b/d from March to April in the previous three years, according to a Reuters analysis of official data.
The increase from March to April 2012 was much lower, however, at just 64,000b/d, due to more gas supply coming on line in early 2012 to feed Saudi power plants.
Benchmark Brent crude oil, trading near $104.85 a barrel yesterday, has fallen from almost $120 in February on concerns about the global economic outlook, though it is still above Saudi Arabia’s preferred level of $100.
According to the latest Reuters survey, overall Opec crude oil output rebounded in April from its lowest monthly level in more than a year due to the end of export disruptions in Iraq and Libya and a rise in Iranian sales.
Opec is scheduled to meet in Vienna at the end of May. In early April it trimmed its forecast for global growth in oil demand in 2013.
Even if export demand for Saudi oil weakens over the next few months, the rise in its own use for power plants to meet a surge in air conditioning should support Saudi production over the summer.
Reuters
