Increased use of natural gas has reduced the amount from as much as 1 million bpd in 2010. The volume of crude burnt is about 600,000 bpd in summer months and 300,000 bpd in winter months, figures from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) show. Some Saudi cities are far from natural gas fields that could provide cleaner fuel for power generation.
The kingdom turns to oil to meet power needs, which typically peak as demand for cooling rises with summer temperatures. Saudi Arabia has for several years imported Russian fuel oil, which can reduce its need to refine crude for products and cut the amount of oil it needs to burn for power, leaving it with more unrefined crude to sell on international markets at higher prices. "Seasonal demand for power generation feedstocks pushed fuel oil imports into Saudi Arabia to 320,000 barrels per day in June, the highest since November 2020," the firm said. It found Saudi fuel imports from Egypt spiked to a record 110,000 bpd in June as Egypt's imports of Russian fuel oil jumped to a record 70,000 bpd in the same month. Saudi Arabian and Russian energy ministries declined to comment on the increased imports.Įnergy analytics firm Vortexa found rising flows of Russian-origin fuel oil cargoes through Egypt and Estonia boosted imports, Vortexa said.
That was up from 320,000 tonnes in the same period a year ago.įor the full year 2021, Saudi Arabia imported 1.05 million tonnes of Russian fuel oil. The two are the de facto leaders of respectively OPEC and non-OPEC producers in that group.ĭata obtained by Reuters through Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking showed Saudi Arabia imported 647,000 tonnes (48,000 barrels per day) of fuel oil from Russia via Russian and Estonian ports in April-June this year. Saudi Arabia has also maintained its cooperation with Russia in the alliance of global producers known as OPEC+. There is little spare capacity for Saudi and others to increase production in the short term. While many countries have banned or discouraged purchases from Russia, China, India and several African and Middle Eastern nations have increased imports.īiden was on Friday visiting Saudi Arabia and was expected to seek an increase in oil supply to global markets from the kingdom to help to lower oil prices that have aggravated inflation worldwide.