MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports in April rose to 10.237 million barrels per day (bpd) from 7.391 million bpd in March, reported Reuters with reference to official data.
The country’s crude output rose by 2.274 mln bpd to 12.007 mln bpd in April, the official figures showed. Exports rose by 2.846 mln bpd to 10.237 mln bpd in April, while crude stocks fell 12.747 mln bbl to 143.502 mln barrels in April.
Saudi domestic refinery crude throughput fell 0.128 mln bpd in April to 1.84 mln bpd, while direct crude burn rose 76,000 bpd in April to 355,000 bpd.
Monthly export figures are provided by Riyadh and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI), which published them on its website.
OPEC and allies, known as OPEC+, agreed to a record supply cut that started on May 1 to support prices and demand hit by the coronavirus crisis.
The supply pact involves OPEC+ cutting output by 9.7 million barrels per day in May and June. The group agreed on June 6 to extend the cut for another month.
The latest supply pact followed the collapse of a previous agreement on supply in March, after which Saudi Arabia opened the taps in a battle for market share.
In April, on average the 13-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 30.25 million barrels per day (bpd), according to a Reuters survey published that month, up 1.61 million bpd from a revised March figure.
As MRC wrote previously, Saudi Aramco on June 17 said it completed the share acquisition of a 70% stake in petrochemicals company Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, or SABIC, from the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, for a total purchase price of Riyal 259.125 billion (USD69.1 billion). However, the transaction terms have been changed to increase the timeline over which Aramco makes the payments by almost three years. An upfront cash payment of 36% of the deal value has also been eliminated from the deal.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
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