Saudi Arabian oil exports to the U.S. more than doubled from February to March as oil prices crashed and American shale producers reeled over demand destruction from the coronavirus pandemic, data from analytics firm TankerTrackers.com shows.
Saudi crude shipments to American ports went from an average of 366,000 barrels per day (bpd) in February to 829,540 bpd in March a multiple of 2.27. For the last month, that means Saudi Arabia shipped around 25 million barrels of crude to the U.S., a level not seen since December 2018.
And data from TankerTrackers.com shows that figure is on track to be surpassed in April. Satellite tracking of VLCCs, the vessels that transport crude, tracked a whopping 1.46 million barrels per day of Saudi oil shipped to the U.S. in the first two weeks of April alone four times February’s daily volume and the highest since 2014. The majority of tankers went to the Gulf Coast, with a smaller proportion going to Californian ports.
