Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports in May slipped to a four-month low at 7.050 million barrels per day, data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Tuesday.
Crude exports in May fell about 4.5% from about 7.382 million bpd reported for April.
Saudi Arabia more than doubled the amount of Russian fuel oil it imported in the second quarter to feed power stations to meet summer cooling demand and free up the kingdom’s own crude for export, data showed and traders said last week.
Meanwhile, the world's largest oil exporter's May crude production rose to its highest level in over two years at 10.538 million bpd from 10.441 million bpd in the previous month.
US President Joe Biden's visit in recent days to the country ended without any announcements that the kingdom would raise oil production to help lower fuel prices.
Oil prices fall on economic slowdown warnings
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said he saw no shortage of oil in the market, but a lack of oil refining capacity, making it necessary to invest more in capacity to process crude oil into various oil products.
Exports of oil products, meanwhile, edged up slightly to 1.527 million bpd, the data showed.
The country's domestic crude refinery throughput rose 0.211 million bpd to 2.749 million bpd in May while direct crude burn rose 185,000 bpd to 582,000 bpd.
Monthly export figures are provided by Riyadh and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI), which published them on its website.
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