Saudi Arabia passes Russia as top oil producer

Dubai: Oil production in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, rose to 10.103 million barrels a day in June, from 9.807 million barrels a day in May, overtaking Russia as the world’s largest producer, official data showed.

Russia’s output in June rose to 9.931 million barrels a day, from 9.896 million barrels a day in May, according to figures posted on the Joint Organization Data Initiative, or JODI, website. JODI is supervised by the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum and shows data supplied directly by governments dating back to 2002.

In March, Saudi Arabia topped Russia’s output for the first time in six years.

Saudi Arabia burnt 778,000 barrels a day in power stations and water-desalination plants in June, up 26 per cent from the 616,000 barrels a day used during the same period in 2011, and 39 per cent higher than May, signaling a rise in demand for energy, which is needed to fuel electricity stations and industrial complexes in the rapidly growing economy.