Saudi cuts crude burn while OPEC+ lifts output

Saudi Arabia is releasing 500,000 extra barrels of crude per day into the market this ￰0￱ reason? Production is going up, and the need to burn oil at home is falling fast now that summer is cooling ￰1￱ comes at a time when global traders are already worried the oil market is heading for a ￰2￱ added supply is expected to grow even more through the rest of this year and into 2026. That’s partly because Saudi Arabia is launching a massive natural gas project that will help stop using oil locally and send more of it ￰3￱ increase matters because Saudi domestic demand usually spikes during the hottest months when the kingdom burns oil to power air ￰4￱ this year, that demand was unusually high, holding back exports and keeping prices ￰5￱ temperatures dropping, that buffer is ￰6￱ cuts crude burn while OPEC+ lifts output Oil burned for electricity in Saudi Arabia jumped to over 900,000 barrels a day in August, the highest since at least ￰7￱ projects it will fall by a third in September and drop under 400,000 barrels per day in ￰8￱ alone is sending hundreds of thousands of barrels back into global ￰9￱ the same time, Saudi Arabia is increasing its production quota.

It’s leading OPEC+’s push to bring back previously capped ￰10￱ producer group is counting on strong demand to keep prices stable, but that may not happen. “We expect global oil demand to have set a peak for the year in August, with temperatures in the Middle East slowly declining, and a peak in travel in the northern hemisphere,” said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group ￰11￱ said oil use will “modestly decline over the coming months.” Oil prices are already feeling ￰12￱ crude was trading around $67 on Thursday, down 10% this ￰13￱ expects it to slide to $62 by ￰14￱ Sachs says prices might sink to the low $50s next ￰15￱ International Energy Agency projects a record surplus in 2026, based on current supply ￰16￱ Saudi Arabia doesn’t see it that ￰17￱ expects oil demand to keep climbing, especially from ￰18￱ Nasser, the CEO of Saudi Aramco, said in August that demand in the second half of the year would rise by 2 million barrels per day compared to the first half, and is expected to grow even more when the Jafurah gas project kicks ￰19￱ gas project will replace 35,000 barrels per day of crude burned domestically after operations start later this ￰20￱ it reaches full capacity in 2030, it’ll free up as much as 350,000 barrels per day for exports, according to Rystad ￰21￱ weigh rising supply against China demand and sanctions risk Oil took another hit ￰22￱ futures dropped $1.13 to $66.36, and ￰23￱ Texas Intermediate fell $1.16 to $62.51.

The dip followed a new warning from the IEA, which said supply will grow faster than expected this year, especially with OPEC+ raising ￰24￱ later released its own report and kept its non-OPEC supply and demand forecasts unchanged, claiming demand remains ￰25￱ the warnings, the OPEC+ alliance confirmed on Sunday that it will raise production starting in ￰26￱ market is now stuck between two ￰27￱ one side, supply is rising, and inventories are ￰28￱ the other, there’s ongoing tension in Ukraine and the Middle East, raising fears of ￰29￱ Arabia is also shipping more oil to ￰30￱ sources told Reuters that Aramco will export 1.65 million barrels a day to China in October, up from 1.43 million in September.

UBS’s Giovanni said the market is now watching whether China will slow down imports, which could leave inventories piling up in OECD countries. There’s also concern about Russia, with investors keeping an eye on more sanctions that could affect its oil ￰31￱ the U. S. side, government data showed crude inventories rose by 3.9 million barrels in the week ending September ￰32￱ surprised traders who had expected a draw of 1 million barrels, raising new doubts about American ￰33￱ Difference Wire : the secret tool crypto projects use to get guaranteed media coverage