Saudi Arabia draws down crude stocks, finds JODI

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Saudi Arabia drew down its own crude stocks in February, while its exports were curbed by its voluntary 1 million b/d production cut in addition to the official OPEC and allies ceiling production limit, data from the Joint Organisation Data Initiative (JODI) showed.

Crude exports fell to 5.63 million b/d in February, down 957,000 b/d from January, according to JODI.

February was the first downturn in exports from Saudi Arabia since June when the Kingdom exported 4.98 million b/d.

Saudi Arabia pumped 8.15 million b/d in February, down from 9.1 million b/d in January.

The kingdom's production quota under OPEC was 9.12 million b/d in both January and February.

Saudi Arabia's crude stocks were sitting at 134,572 million barrels at the end of the month, the lowest since JODI started to compile data in 2002.