Saudi Arabia has reported to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that its crude production last month experienced another significant drop, falling to its lowest level since 1990 as renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran constrained the kingdom's export routes.
According to OPEC's monthly report, Riyadh informed the OPEC Secretariat that its daily crude output plummeted by 1.9 million barrels to 6.238 million barrels. This figure even surpasses the previous low recorded during the April conflict, which had already marked the lowest production level reported by Saudi Arabia since the onset of the Gulf War.
The reported decline in Saudi production aligns with compiled preliminary oil tanker tracking data, which indicates that the kingdom's crude exports in August fell by roughly one-third to approximately 3 million barrels per day. Additionally, Saudi Arabia reported to OPEC that its August "market supply" of crude stood at 7.122 million barrels per day, exceeding its production during the same period. This metric includes crude drawn from storage facilities, suggesting that Saudi Arabia may have utilized part of its inventories.
Beyond the directly reported figures from member countries, the OPEC monthly report also contains assessment data aggregated by several external agencies, commonly referred to as "secondary sources." The average of these data points shows a more moderate month-on-month decline in Saudi crude output, recorded at 7.276 million barrels per day.