Saudi Arabia’s Oil Exports Drop Was Sign of Weaker Demand – Bloomberg.
Saudi Arabia shipped 10 percent less oil overseas in October than it did a year earlier, signaling demand was falling even before OPEC decided a month later to hold production unchanged with prices plunging.
Oil exports fell to 6.9 million barrels a day in October from 7.7 million barrels a day a year earlier, according to data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative today. It was the sixth month in a row that Saudi Arabia produced less than 7 million barrels a day, the level it needs to balance its budget.
Crude slumped 43 percent this year as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries sought to defend market share amid a U.S. shale boom that’s exacerbating a global glut. Saudi Arabia will stick to its policy to maintain output, the country’s oil minister Ali Al-Naimi said, according to state-run Saudi Press Agency.
“Now we can understand the reasons that compelled Saudi Arabia and OPEC to hold onto their market share,” said John Sfakianakis, the head of Middle East at Ashmore Group (ASHM) Plc, the London-based money manager specializing in emerging markets. “The problem is that they want to keep their market share while exporting less oil.”