RIYADH: Saudi Arabia exported almost 947,000,000 barrels of oil worth $31.9bn (SAR120bn) during the first four months of 2016. Revenues were 35% less than those recorded for the corresponding period of 2015, Al Riyadh reported. April grossed the largest revenues of all four months reaching (SAR34bn), compared to (SAR33.6bn) in March, (SAR24.7bn) in February and (SAR27.3bn) in January.
During that period, local consumption reached 290.4 billion barrels – 23% of total production. Oil prices reached their highest levels on April 29, 2016 with Brent at $48.50, despite failure to freeze outputs at the Doha talks last April. Oil prices have fallen since then. Russia has threatened to increase its production from 10.7 million per day to 12 or 13million, following the Doha meeting.
Oversupply and low oil prices meant that capital expenditures in oil exploration have decreased by 40% over the last 2 years, especially in the US, Latin America, and Russia. Shale oil production went down from 9.7 million barrels a day in April 2015 to less than 9 million today, the daily added.
