Saudi Arabia exported a record 1.91mn b/d of products in January smashing October 2017’s previous record of 1.59mn b/d. The products share of the kingdom’s total oil exports, at 21.1%, was also a record, whilst volumes of diesel (803,000 b/d) and gasoline (328,000 b/d) smashed previous highs (see charts 1 & 2). The bulk of this appears to be headed for Europe, with January seeing a record 756,000 b/d of diesel making northbound transit through the Suez Canal.

However, whilst February data are not yet available, last month likely saw a sizeable fall from this summit. January’s record breaking numbers were the result of a confluence of record-high late-2017 refining runs and low early-2018 demand. Certainly, it’s not because of record products output, as refining runs dipped to a five-month low of 2.62mn b/d in January (see chart 3). (CONTINUED - 872 WORDS)