Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports in April fell despite high production levels, while more crude was used domestically for power generation and to feed rising demand from local refineries.
Crude exports in April fell to 7.444 million barrels per day from 7.541 million bpd in March, official data showed on Monday.
The world’s largest oil exporter and OPEC heavyweight produced 10.262 million bpd in April, compared with 10.224 million bpd a month earlier, the data showed.
Saudi Arabia’s domestic crude inventories fell to 290.858 million barrels in April from 296.659 million barrels a month earlier, according to the data provided by the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI).
Oil inventories reached a record high in October last year at 329.430 million barrels, but have declined since then.
Monthly export figures are provided by Riyadh and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to JODI, which publishes them on its website.
Domestic refineries processed 2.510 million bpd of crude, compared with 2.574 million bpd in March, while exports of refined oil products rose to 1.524 million bpd in April from 1.341 million bpd the month before.
In April crude oil burnt to generate power rose 501,000 bpd from 397,000 bpd in March, the JODI data showed.
