Saudi crude exports rise in July, surpassing the two-year peak
Oil prices fell during trading on Monday, under the weight of expectations of a decline in global demand, coupled with a rising dollar, before a possible major interest rate hike, but supply concerns have limited the drop in prices.
World central banks will almost certainly raise interest rates this week, and the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates by one percentage point.
Brent crude for November delivery fell 0.5% to $ 90.85 a barrel by 15:03 GMT. The price of US West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery fell 0.6% to $ 84.57 a barrel.
The British public holiday due to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral limited trading volumes in London yesterday. Oil was also put under pressure by hopes that the European gas supply crisis would ease. German buyers booked capacity to receive Russian gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, but it was later canceled without the gas flowing.
The dollar stabilized near its 20-year high before the decisions expected this week by the Federal Reserve and other central banks. The rise in the dollar raises the cost of listed commodities for holders of other currencies, hitting oil and other risk-sensitive commodities.
Oil has also come under pressure from expectations of lower demand, such as the International Energy Agency’s expectation last week that there will be no demand growth in the fourth quarter. However, supply concerns limited the price decline.
Meanwhile, the International Energy Forum said yesterday, citing data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI), that Saudi crude oil exports rose for the second consecutive month to the highest level in more than two years.
Saudi exports in July increased 2.5% to 7.38 million barrels per day, the highest level since April 2020 from 7.20 million barrels per day in June.
The kingdom raised its July crude oil prices for Asian buyers to higher than expected levels amid fears of limited supplies and expectations of strong demand in the summer. It also raised its official selling price to European and Mediterranean buyers, but kept the price differentials for Americans unchanged.
Saudi Arabia was India’s third largest oil supplier in July and held China’s top spot unchanged during the first half of the year.
Saudi Arabian production also jumped to its highest level in the past two years to 10.815 million barrels per day from 10.646 million barrels per day in the previous month.
In contrast, crude oil consumption in Saudi refineries was around three percent to 2.763 million barrels in July, while petroleum product exports amounted to 1.429 million barrels per day.
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