Saudi Arabia's crude exports have risen in October compared with September, two of three ship-tracking companies said, despite Iranian attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf and claims by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis of attacks on Saudi oil facilities.
Kpler, the third ship tracker, showed a fall in exports, and many tankers have switched off their tracking signals, which makes the true volumes hard to pin down.
Saudi crude exports averaged about 7.9 million barrels per day for the first 29 days of the month, said TankerTrackers.com, up from 5.8 million bpd in September. This comprised 3.32 million bpd from the western coast and 4.55 million bpd from the east, the preliminary data showed.
Exports from Saudi Arabia's Yanbu port are higher following a dip in September, said tanker tracker Petro-Logistics
“Total volumes coming out of the Strait (of Hormuz) have fallen by 2-3 million bpd from the peak levels seen earlier in October,” said Virginie Bahnik of Petro-Logistics. “But Saudi exports overall are still strong and will end the month higher than in September”.
Data from Kpler showed total Saudi crude exports at 5.72 million bpd so far in October, compared with 6.70 million bpd in September. The trackers' data does not always match and is likely to be revised further as more information becomes available.
Exports through the Strait of Hormuz have become harder to ascertain since many tankers switched off tracking signals in the wake of security risks, prompting analysts to rely more on satellite imagery, port observations and other data to estimate flows.
(Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar and Alex Lawler; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)