Baku, Azerbaijan, June 4
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Saudi Arabia has increased the amount of petroleum products it could export and most recently exported an average of 2.0 million barrels per day of petroleum products in 2018, Trend reports citing the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Reportedly, this was achieved as a result of increased refinery runs.
“For many years, Saudi Arabia has worked to increase its domestic refinery capacity and is currently able to process 2.9 million b/d of crude oil. Crude oil refinery runs averaged 1.8 million b/d in 2009, and they subsequently rose to an average of 2.6 million b/d by 2018, according to JODI data,” said EIA.
The EIA analysis shows that natural gas processing capacity is also increasing. “Consumption of natural gas in Saudi Arabia reached 10.6 billion cubic feet per day in 2017, the latest year for which data are available.”
Moreover, EIA said that in 2018, Saudi Arabia reported burning an average of 0.4 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil for power generation, the lowest amount since at least 2009.
“Saudi Arabia burns considerably more crude oil directly for power generation than any other country. Between 2015 and 2017, Saudi Arabia used more than three times the amount of crude oil for power generation than Iraq, the second-largest user of crude oil for power during those years,” reads the analysis.
Reportedly, Saudi Arabia’s direct crude oil burn for power generation reached a record high during the summer of 2015, averaging 0.9 million b/d from June to August. “In comparison, direct crude oil burn in the summer of 2018 was 41 percent lower at 0.5 million b/d.”
Despite steady increases in both population and electricity consumption, Saudi Arabia reduced its reliance on crude oil for power generation by increasing the use of other energy sources, such as natural gas and fuel oil, according to EIA.
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