Crude oil cargoes shipped from Saudi Arabia’s terminals dropped in May, according to industry estimates. The export volume is estimated to have fallen by a third last month to about 6.28 million bpd down by 32% from 9.22 million bpd in April. The export decline was in line with the decrease in production to 8.49 million bpd in May due to the supply curbs agreement among OPEC+ producers.
The data, however, did not include exports from the Khafji Neutral Zone shared between Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Kuwait. Export from this area increased by 12% to 127,000 bpd in May. State-owned Kuwait Gulf Oil (KGOC) said that it would stop production from Khafji fields during June as part of the supply reduction.
Meanwhile, tanker tracking data showed that Aramco’s shipments to Asia fell 21% to a six-month low of 4.84 million bpd, with exports to China, India, Japan, and South Korea declining by about 13%, 50%, 13%, and 5%, respectively. Shipping to European markets fell to just 400,000 barrels, while shipments to the Americas decreased by 42% to 677,000 bpd, of which 645,000 bpd went to the US. This data did not include 56,000 bpd cargoes that have not declared destination yet.
