Saudi crude output, exports rise in August

Oil production in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of crude, rose to the highest level in more than 30 years in August and exports also increased as the Opec nation sought to offset a global shortfall fueled by unrest in Libya.

The latest official data show crude output jumped to 10.190 million barrels a day, the highest level since at least 1980, compared with 10.034 million barrels a day in July. Exports rose 4.4 per cent during the same period.

That’s the highest level since at least 1980, when the country, the only producer with significant flexibility to turn its spigots on and off, opened the taps to make up for a sharp fall in Iran’s output after that country’s 1979 revolution.

The kingdom exported 7.795 million barrels a day of crude oil and condensate, up from 7.470 million barrels a day in July.

The figures were obtained from the Joint Organisation Data Initiative website (JODI). The website is supervised by the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum and shows data supplied directly by governments dating to 2002.

Saudi Arabia used 752,000 barrels a day in power stations and water-desalination plants in August, down from the 779,000 barrels a day during the corresponding period in 2012 and also down from the 757,000 barrels a day consumed a month earlier.

Protests by the security guards shut down several of Libya’s eastern export ports in August, sending oil exports plunging to levels below those prior to the 2011 war that toppled the Gaddafi regime.