RIYADH – Saudi crude oil exports fell by 124,000 barrels a day (bpd) to 7.154m bpd in November, according to official data published by the Joint Data Initiative (JODI) Sunday. The world's top crude oil exporter cut its production by 232,000 bpd from October to 9.492 million bpd in November, largely due to a 232,000 bpd drop in Saudi oil use for power generation and lower demand abroad. Offsetting the fall in Saudi electricity sector demand, its refinery intake rose by 53,000 bpd month on month, while the Kingdom put an average of 193,866 bpd of crude into storage, the latest JODI figures show. Official figures for December exports will not be published by JODI until mid February, but Saudi Arabia has told OPEC it cut production by 467,000 bpd to 9.025m bpd in December. Export and internal power demand figures published Sunday support a Saudi oil official's claims that some of the reduction in production in late 2012 was a result of lower seasonal demand in Saudi Arabia. Saudi production in December was more than 1 million barrels below its peak production last summer, when the Kingdom's own oil use rises because it burns oil to generate electricity to meet high air conditioning demand. But the 700,000 bpd drop in Saudi crude production over the final two months of 2012 also reflects weaker demand abroad. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' monthly report published last week indicated world oil supply will comfortably outstrip demand in the first half of 2013. Meanwhile, British oil major BP said in its latest report published that United States is expected to surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia in 2013 as the world's largest producer of crude oil and biofuels. The forecast said that United States will overtake both Russia and Saudi Arabia in 2013 in liquids production due to rising production of shale oil and biofuels, but also due to expected OPEC production cuts. Russia will likely pass Saudi Arabia for the second place in 2013 and hold this position until 2023. Saudi Arabia will regain the top oil producer slot by 2027. The BP forecast said that “The US, Saudi Arabia, and Russia will supply over a third of global liquids.” Russia will remain the world's largest energy exporter by 2030. – SG/Reuters
