RIYADH: Saudi imports of fuel oil from its OPEC+ partner, Russia, jumped to a record-high in June at the expense of crude oil, amid the production cuts.
Russia began exporting fuel oil to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries this year, as its products are now embargoed in Europe. For Saudi Arabia, cheap Russian imports leave more crude available for exports.
According to data from analytics firm Kpler, during last month, the world’s largest crude oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, imported a record volume of 193,000 barrels per day (bpd) of fuel oil from Russia, a tenfold surge compared to a year ago.
Analysts and traders see a link between the record fuel oil imports from Russia and the Saudi pledge to cut production. To keep crude exports, Saudi Arabia is prioritizing fuel oil power generation, according to Royston Huan, fuel oil and feedstocks analyst at Energy Aspects.
Saudi Arabia is also making money from diesel trading after the EU embargo on Russian fuels, as the world’s top crude exporter is now importing record volumes of cheap diesel from Russia and exporting record levels of its own diesel to the higher-priced Asian market in the Singapore hub.
