Saudi Arabia has raised crude production to 10.563 million barrels per day in October, the highest level since late February when the US regime and the Israeli regime launched a war on Iran and disrupted global energy supplies, according to OPEC’s monthly report released on Wednesday. The increase of more than 2 million bpd from September helped lift the wider OPEC+ group—which includes OPEC members and non-members such as Russia—to 41.23 million bpd, up about 2.04 million bpd month on month, as Gulf exporters look for workarounds to bypass maritime chokepoints and stabilize exports amid a lingering shipping and inflation crisis.
Key Takeaways: Saudi Arabia pumped 10.563 million bpd in October, up by over 2 million bpd from September and the highest since 10.882 million bpd in February. OPEC+ output rose to 41.23 million bpd, while Russian output increased after US regime President Donald Trump supposedly lifted sanctions on Russian energy and announced an “energy ceasefire” between Ukraine and Russia in mid-October. The report says Gulf producers are recovering exports through workarounds such as ship-to-ship transfers, even as attacks on Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline continue.
The figures underscore how the war on Iran, launched by the US regime and the Israeli regime in late February, upended oil flows and pushed inflation higher. About one-fifth of global oil supplies transiting the Strait of Hormuz were closed off, sending annual US personal consumption expenditures inflation to a three-year high of 4.1 percent in May, from 2.9 percent in February. Saudi Arabia had sharply increased production in February ahead of the strikes, and Riyadh’s latest increase may ease some inflationary pressure, though analysts caution that it does not automatically translate into lower pump prices. In the US regime, petrol fell below $4 a gallon this week for the first time in months, but cost-of-living concerns still drove the Democratic Party’s sweeping victories in the midterm elections, according to the article.
“When more oil enters the global market, prices generally come under downward pressure, which can eventually translate into lower gasoline, transportation, and production costs in the United States,” Umud Shokri, an energy strategist and senior visiting fellow at George Mason University, told Al Jazeera. “However, higher Saudi production does not automatically mean lower prices at American gas stations.” The OPEC report, based on secondary sources, said the UAE regained its position as top supplier in September with a 49 percent share, compared with 25 percent the previous month; the US was second with 28 percent, followed by Saudi Arabia with 14 percent. Japan’s crude imports fell sharply in September amid renewed trade-flow disruptions.
Saudi exports have stabilized despite repeated attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen on the East-West Pipeline, which allows crude to move to the Red Sea port of Yanbu without passing through Hormuz. Shokri noted that the UAE has a similar advantage through its pipeline to Fujairah, outside the strait, but warned that Gulf countries are learning how costly dependence on a single maritime chokepoint can be. “They are looking for ways to make their exports more resilient, but Hormuz remains too important to the global” market, he said, with the next OPEC+ meeting and shipping security in the Gulf likely to shape whether the production rebound can be sustained.
Source: www.aljazeera.com