JEDDAH: Oil prices have rebounded since Friday as speculators expect growth in US crude oil production to slow, following a fall in the rig count and a small unexpected drop in weekly US production.
The future contracts for Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) in London and New York may see another and greater push in July, as fewer oil shipments from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) hit the market.
The reduction in exports from OPEC countries in June is expected to have an impact on prices in July because it takes around 50 to 55 days for the crude shipped from the Middle East to reach East Asia and North America.
“The fall in exports will lead to a fall in stored crude onshore and offshore, but the main question (is): Will OPEC maintain the cuts?” said Abdulsamad Al-Awadhi, a London-based analyst and former national representative for Kuwait at OPEC. “Few people in the market believe that OPEC countries will not raise exports once they see prices improve.”
OPEC’s oil production is expected to show an increase in June, according to different market surveys from agencies including Reuters, as more oil is produced in Libya and Nigeria. However, OPEC as a whole is expected to ship less crude despite the high pumping from some oil fields.
According to different oil tanker estimates compiled by Arab News, crude exports from Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and the UAE edged lower in June.
The fall in exports from OPEC last month is expected to be between 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), an amount expected to support upward price movement but not significant enough to lower global oil stocks, which have been above their five-year seasonal average for a long time.
Saudi Arabia has delivered on its promise to cut exports to the US in June, data from different oil-tanker trackers showed, but the country has shipped more crude to Asia.
“We are seeing a fairly widespread rebound in the June numbers,” Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData was quoted as saying by CNBC.
“That has been the trend of OPEC loadings all year: Move to compliance and move out of it from an export perspective.”
High compliance by Gulf producers Saudi Arabia and Kuwait helped keep OPEC’s adherence with its supply curbs at a historically high 92 percent in June, compared with 95 percent in May, a Reuters survey published on June 30 found.
Oil prices may improve as OPEC exports fall
Oil prices may improve as OPEC exports fall
Saudi ports container handling rises 2% to 738k TEUs in January: Mawani
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s ports handled 738,111 twenty-foot equivalent units in January, a 2.01 percent increase from a year earlier, driven by a sharp rise in transshipment volumes despite weaker inbound and outbound trade.
Ports overseen by the Saudi Ports Authority, known as Mawani, reported that transshipment containers surged 22.44 percent year on year to 184,019 TEUs, helping offset softer cargo flows.
This comes as Saudi Arabia accelerates efforts to position itself as a global logistics hub under its National Transport and Logistics Strategy, investing heavily in port infrastructure and supply-chain integration to capture a larger share of regional trade flows.
Mawani emphasized in a statement that the increased container handling “delivers multiple economic benefits, including enhanced trade activity, stimulation of maritime-related industries, tourism growth, and strengthened supply chains.”
While overall container volumes grew, the figures revealed a mixed performance across different segments. Inbound container volumes declined 3.23 percent to 284,375 TEUs, while outbound containers fell 3.47 percent to 269,717 TEUs compared to January 2025.
Passenger traffic through Saudi ports jumped 42.27 percent to 143,566 travelers in January, while vehicle volumes rose 3.31 percent to 109,097 units.
Livestock imports showed particularly strong momentum, with ports receiving 886,908 heads of cattle — a 49.86 percent increase compared to 591,824 heads during the same period in 2025.
Liquid bulk cargo registered a marginal increase of 0.28 percent, reaching 14.1 million tonnes. However, total handled tonnage — including general cargo, dry bulk, and liquid bulk — declined 3.04 percent to 19.2 million tonnes. General cargo stood at 839,987 tonnes, while dry bulk reached 4.26 million tonnes.
Vessel traffic experienced a slight decrease of 1.75 percent, with 1,121 ships calling at Saudi ports compared to 1,141 ships in January 2025.
The positive January figures follow a strong 2025 performance, during which Mawani-supervised ports achieved a 10.58 percent annual increase in container throughput, handling 8.32 million TEUs compared to 7.52 million TEUs in 2024. Transshipment containers for full-year 2025 rose 11.78 percent to 1.93 million TEUs.
The total number of outgoing containers rose by 11.72 percent in 2025 to reach 3.1 million TEUs, compared to 2.8 million TEUs, while the total number of incoming containers increased by 8.82 percent to reach 3.2 million TEUs in 2025, compared to 2.9 million TEUs a year earlier.
