Saudi March oil exports reach 9-year high in market push

WAEL MAHDI

LONDON (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia shipped more crude in March than in any month since November 2005 as the world’s biggest oil exporter battled for market share amid a global glut.

The kingdom exported 7.9 MMbpd of crude, up 548,000 bpd from February, according to figures published Monday on the website of the Joint Organisations Data Initiative.

Iraq, the largest producer in OPEC after Saudi Arabia, shipped 2.98 MMbpd in March, the most since at least January 2007 when it began submitting data to the initiative known as JODI.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq boosted exports as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped above its official target for the 11th consecutive month in April, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Middle Eastern producers are competing with cargoes from Latin America, North Africa and Russia for sales in Asia, and competition has intensified since OPEC decided on Nov. 27 to keep its output target unchanged at 30 MMbpd. The group is to meet again on Jun. 5 in Vienna.

Saudi Arabia produced 10.29 MMbpd in March compared with 9.64 million in February, according to JODI. The country’s output in the month was the highest since at least January 2002 when JODI started collecting statistics from governments.

Brent for July settlement slid 19 cents to $66.08 bbl on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

Iranian Exports

“The increase of Saudi crude production is not about offsetting higher domestic refinery runs but about gaining a bigger share of the trade in oil, and this before any return of Iran,” Olivier Jakob, MD at consultants Petromatrix GmbH, said by e-mail from Zug, Switzerland.

Iran, its oil exports constrained by international sanctions over its nuclear program, shipped 1.23 MMbpd in March compared with 1.3 million in February, according to JODI data. A framework agreement announced Apr. 2 by the U.S. and five other world powers would curb Iran’s ability to enrich uranium in exchange for relief from sanctions. Negotiators are working to complete the deal before Jun. 30.

Saudi Arabia burned 351,000 bpd of crude in March to generate electricity, an 11% increase from February, according to the JODI website. The nation processed 1.91 MMbpd in domestic refineries in March, the lowest level since November last year, the data showed.