MEES analysis of customs data for key importing countries for the first nine months of 2015 shows that Saudi Arabia is only just managing to hold on to its crude market share in key east Asian consuming countries, despite producing at record volumes.

Saudi Arabia has been struggling to keep crude exports at above 7mn b/d despite output running at record levels of over 10mn mn b/d since March. Record refinery runs and crude burning together with a build-up in stocks have cut into the volume available for export (see graph 1). (CONTINUED - 899 WORDS)