Saudi Arabian Crude Oil Exports Fall
April 17, 2023
The Baker Hughes Rig Count had oil rigs down 2 to a total of 588 oil rigs and last year at this time oil rigs number 548. The outlook is that rigs would stay fairly stable in this range and that US production will be relatively flat going froward unless prices see a significant increase.
Saudi Arabia’s crude exports fell from 7.658 million bpd to 7.455 million bpd in February. Saud Arabia has been the country that has been the aggressor in cutting crude oil production and exports within OPEC+. Many market analysts do not think they need to be this aggressive, but they see it as necessary to support prices due to weaker demand. Those market analysts see this causing a supply deficit in the second half of 2023.
US crude oil inventories increased by 600,000 barrel last week and are now 3% above the five year average. Gasoline inventories decreased by 300,000 barrel week over week and are now 7% below the five year average. Distillate inventories decreased by 600,000 barrels and are 11% below the five year average. Propane inventories increased by 500,000 barrels and are 30% above the five year average.
China will release GDP data later tonight and most see it as being positive for commodities across the board. The IEA expects that China will account for the most growth in 2023, with this quarterly GDP report being the first since the re-opening of China from COVID.