Saudi Oil Output could Reach 8.9 Million Barrels in May

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, may pump about 8.9 million barrels a day in May as demand from refiners globally picks up and Japan raises imports of the nation’s oil, a local economist said.

“May’s output should show an increase of 100,000 to 200,000 barrels a day from April as markets are well supplied,” John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Riyadh-based Banque Saudi Fransi, said in a telephone interview.

April output levels should be about 8.7 million barrels a day, equalling that of March, he said. Exports will increase in May as Saudi Arabia will sell more of the crude it had stockpiled during the previous two months, Sfakianakis said.

“Saudi Aramco had stockpiled a lot of oil locally and abroad at Rotterdam and Sidi Kerir sites,” he said. “They need to sell from those first.” Aramco is the state oil company.

Crude inventories in Saudi Arabia increased by 12.2 million barrels, or 4.7 percent, in March from a month earlier, according to official data.

The holder of the world’s largest proven oil reserves had 269.4 million barrels of crude in storage within its territory by the end of March, compared with 257.2 million barrels in February, the government figures posted yesterday on the Joint Organization Data Initiative website show.

Saudi Arabia pumped 8.66 million barrels of oil a day in March, down 365,000 barrels a day, or 4 percent, from 9.02 million a day in the previous month, the official data showed.

The kingdom exported 6.54 million barrels a day in March, for a monthly decrease of 6.5 percent, according to the figures. The initiative, known as JODI, is supervised by the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum and shows historical data supplied directly by governments.

Bloomberg