Aramco to reduce Asia sales, China March shipments down 17% on-month

Saudi Arabia's oil sales to Asia's two biggest importers are set to come in at lower-than-usual levels next month.

Saudi Aramco, the world's top exporter, is due to ship about 40 million barrels of crude to customers in China in April, according to traders. That's lower than exports of 48 million barrels in February. Flows to buyers in India are also set to come in lower.

The prospect of lower crude volumes going from Saudi Arabia to some of its principal buyers highlights the growing economic fallout from the war, with importers facing higher costs, as well as a need to source alternative barrels.


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The disruption at Hormuz prompted Saudi Aramco to reroute some crude supplies, channeling a portion of production via a pipeline across the Arabian peninsula to the alternative port of Yanbu on its Red Sea coast. However, the ambitious measure is only a partial workaround.

Yanbu has an export capacity of around 5 million barrels a day. That's lower than the 7.2 million barrels a day shipped last month before the war, mainly from facilities within the Persian Gulf.

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For India, exports were set at roughly 23 million barrels for next month, the traders said, asking not to be identified. Flows in February were seen at 25 million to 28 million barrels.