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Saudi Arabia increases oil export

25 February 2012 11:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA-Economics. Top oil producer Saudi Arabia increased exports sharply in the past week and is offering extra supplies to its biggest customers worldwide in what industry sources said appeared to be a bid to tame runaway crude prices, Reuters reported.

Saudi exports surged to just over 9 million bpd in the last week, compared to an average of about 7.5 million for January, three industry sources said.

"Those export numbers are very reliable but they’re only for a week so they don’t tell you whether or not they’re going to sustain these levels," said one industry source.

"Exports could be bunched for a week but this is an unusual export number," said another.

Oil industry watchers routinely assess output from Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers on a monthly basis to smooth out variations over shorter periods.

Saudi oil officials did not respond to requests for comment.

If Riyadh were to maintain exports at 9 million bpd it would imply record volumes from OPEC’s leading producer of 11 million bpd, up more than a million bpd from last month. Saudi currently is using about 2 million bpd domestically.

Riyadh pumped about 9.75 million bpd in January, industry surveys show.

The export data for the past week shows sales to Asia climbing to 6 million bpd with volumes bound for the United States approaching 1.5 million, a three-year high.

Other sources at oil companies who buy Saudi crude said that Riyadh was offering extra oil both in addition to existing long-term contracts and on a one-off "spot" basis.

One said Riyadh appeared to be seeking to "control the price" by offering more oil.