Saudi tanker tracking shows export slide
The world’s largest crude exporter shipped 7.04m barrels a day in February
Saudi Arabia’s shipments of crude oil fell last month, indicating Opec’s biggest producer is continuing to cut supplies by more than it pledged.
The world’s largest crude exporter shipped 7.04 million barrels a day in February, a drop of 126,000 barrels a day from January, vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. Measured against the country’s own figures, outflows are down by about 1 million barrels a day since December.
Saudi Arabia is at the forefront of an agreement by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries to curb output for at least six months to reduce a worldwide surplus that depressed oil prices since mid-2014. Production figures from January showed that Opec members were at about 90 per cent in adhering to the deal. However, 11 non-Opec nations that had joined the effort lagged, with a compliance rate of about 50 per cent.
Higher prices caused by lower output may increase pressure on the group to maintain discipline. Saudi Arabia agreed to cut output by 486,000 barrels a day below October levels, the baseline month for measuring supply curbs, a target that it exceeded in January.
While Saudi Arabia has the ability to store crude — meaning that its exports aren’t perfectly correlated with production