Indications show Saudi Arabia’s oil production decreased in August after it reached a record high a month before.
Figures released by Reuters show that Saudi Arabia's crude oil production slipped in August to 10.63 million barrels per day (bpd). The kingdom had pumped 10.67 million bpd of crude in July, the highest level in its history, on higher domestic demand in the summer and more exports.
This came as the OPEC heavyweight leads a drive to revive a global oil output freeze initiative.
Saudi Arabian and Russia this past Monday that they would form a strategic energy partnership designed to help stabilize oil markets – a partnership which could envisage freezing oil output to help stabilize the prices.
On the same front, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin earlier said a potential oil output freeze deal among oil-exporting countries should involve some compromise on Iran’s production levels.
“I think that from the point of view of economic expediency and logic, it would be right to find some sort of compromise” on the Iranian output level, Putin told Bloomberg.
He said countries now recognize that Iran should be allowed to continue raising production as sanctions have been lifted against the country.
Iran had previously made it clear that it would not join an oil freeze plan promoted by Saudi Arabia. Officials in Tehran repeatedly announced that Iran would join the plan after its output reaches 4 million barrels per day.
The country had been under multiple years of sanctions that limited its oil exports to 1 million barrels per day and also barred foreign investments in its oil industry. The sanctions were lifted in January after a nuclear deal that Iran had reached with the so-called P5+1 group of countries – the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany – came into effect.
