Saudi Arabia cuts oil exports to China, Japan in November

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, has trimmed crude supplies to China and Japan as the Kingdom looks to abide by the OPEC-led supply deal, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.

State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco) reduced supplies to at least three Japanese buyers and one in South Korea by up to 10 percent across different crude grades.

Japan’s imports of Saudi crude rose 15 percent year-on-year (YoY) in the first nine months of 2017, sources said.

Meanwhile, China’s imports of Saudi oil have edged up 1 percent YoY over that period to 39.1 million tonnes.

OPEC along with Russia and other non-member oil producers have agreed to trim production by around 1.8 million bpd from Jan. 1, 2017 until March 2018, as part of efforts to rebalance the oil market and shore up prices.

Saudi Arabia this week said it had cut crude allocations for November by 560,000 barrels per day (bpd), as part of its compliance to the deal. 

Nevertheless, exports are set to rebound to 7.15 million bpd in November, from low levels during the summer peak demand season, an oil ministry spokesperson said.