MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2020) Saudi Arabia's state-owned petroleum monopoly, Saudi Aramco, has exported a record-breaking almost 19 million barrels of oil shipments, the company said on Wednesday.
"As the world demands economic stability, Aramco remains committed to supplying the world with energy. The Company is breaking records, to supply 15 tankers loading more than 18.8 million barrels of oil," the company said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia had begun to fulfill its promise to increase oil supplies to the market, despite a rapid drop in demand. Some tankers left Saudi ports without destinations.
On April 1, the OPEC+ agreement on reducing oil production expired, as Riyadh and Moscow failed to come to mutually acceptable terms for a new deal in early March.
As the countries throughout the world institute quarantines to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the global economy is slowing down, reducing the need for energy and oil products, thus lowering oil prices. The recent OPEC+ talks were meant to work out a response from the oil producers but failed due to the sides disagreeing on a mutually acceptable strategy.
