Saudi Arabia’s continuing crude supply cuts saw oil giant Aramco’s third-quarter profits fall by 23%, the company reported on Tuesday.
Net profit for the third quarter was $32.6bn, down from $42.4bn from the same period in 2022 with the company blaming lower volumes and prices.
The average crude barrel price was $89.3 in the period compared to $101.7 last year, when the war in Ukraine and the reshuffling of trade flows boosted the oil price.
Saudi Arabia announced at the weekend that it was continuing a million barrel-per-day cut until the end of the year, which it said was to support the oil market. It said its output would be around 9m bpd.
Saudi Arabian exports provide nearly one third of all volumes carried by VLCCs, according to Bimco.
Russia followed suit with its own 300,000 bpd cut.
Global demand has continued to grow despite concerns over high interest rates, demand from China and wider economic concerns.
“Aramco believes energy demand is likely to increase over the mid-to long term,” said the company in its results report.
Growth in barrels is expected to come from non-Opec+ countries, which could boost tonne-miles for the tanker trade.
New York-listed VLCC specialist DHT Holdings on Monday reported spot rates of $41,500 per day with 71% of days booked in the current quarter, down marginally from the $44,700 seen in the previous quarter.
“The freight market commenced the quarter with robust rates, however, with a weakening trend further into the quarter driven by oil production cuts by Opec+,” DHT said.
