Saudi Arabia led a big drop in seaborne oil flows in June, with the world’s largest crude exporter likely keeping some barrels domestically to feed its power plants during hot weather.
Global seaborne flows fell by about 1.08 million barrels a day, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The month-on-month drop was the biggest this year and about half of the decline came from the kingdom.
Alongside Saudi Arabia there were also notable decreases from Iran, Iraq, West Africa, the US Gulf and the North Sea. Shipments from Brazil, Qatar and of Russia’s flagship Urals grade rose.