Saudi Slashes Jan-Feb Oil Burn; Can It Maintain The Progress?

25 Apr 2025 Issue: 68 / 17 By: Jamie Ingram

Saudi Arabia’s direct burning of oil in power plants was down more than 200,000 b/d year-on-year for the first two months of 2025. This puts the kingdom in a strong position to achieve its first annual oil burn drop since 2021, especially with more gas and renewables due online in the coming months.

Saudi oil burn dropped sharply to an 11-year monthly low 589,000 b/d for February, and over the first two months of the year overall is running at its lowest level since 2016. There have been previous false dawns, but the scale of the drop over the first months of the year sets the kingdom well on course for its first year-on-year fall since 2021.

Despite the gains, oil burn remains extremely high at 678,000 b/d for 2M 2025 and 589,000 b/d for February, but Riyadh appears to have made a big stride towards its goal of eliminating oil burn by 2030. The Liquid Displacement Program (LDP) aims to eliminate more than 1mn b/d of annual oil burn, and while the external focus is typically on crude oil, in reality the majority of the oil burned in the kingdom’s power and water desalination plants is fuel oil. (CONTINUED - 1495 WORDS)