With 2025 drawing to a close, a picture is emerging of what could be a landmark year for Saudi Arabia’s oil sector. The accelerated unwinding of Opec+ voluntary production cuts has grabbed the headlines, enabling Riyadh to increase production by 1.125mn b/d between January and December, but what is arguably more notable is that Saudi oil consumption is set for a rare annual decline.
Oil consumption was down 2.7% year-on-year after the first nine months of the year, the latest Jodi statistics show, to an average of 2.406mn b/d. Outside of 2020’s Covid-era lockdowns, this would be the first year-on-year decline since 2018. That 2018 fall was due to a huge reduction in fuel subsidies, after which gasoline consumption has yet to recover, while diesel demand only recovered in 2023. It also coincided with the first full year of operations at the 2.5bn cfd Wasit gas processing plant that drove a fall in oil burn in 2018 (MEES, 15 March 2019). (CONTINUED - 836 WORDS)
