Saudi Arabia reported to OPEC that its crude oil production fell further last month to the lowest level since 1990, as the Iran war disrupted exports from the Persian Gulf.
According to a monthly report from the OPEC Secretariat obtained on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia informed the organization that its production decreased by another 651,000 barrels per day in April, dropping to 6.316 million barrels per day. This brings the total reduction since February to 42%, marking the lowest production level since the outbreak of the Gulf War 36 years ago, when OPEC member Iraq invaded fellow member Kuwait.
The current supply disruptions come as OPEC members are once again embroiled in conflict, with the Iran war blocking transportation in the Persian Gulf and leading to record declines in production in countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq. Soaring fuel prices have heightened the risk of a global economic recession.
Saudi Arabia told OPEC that its "supply to the market," which excludes supplies going into inventories, was slightly higher than production, at 6.879 million barrels per day.
In addition to the data directly reported by OPEC members to the organization's Vienna Secretariat, the report includes a set of estimated figures compiled from external consultants and media agencies, known as secondary sources.
These data show that OPEC member production plummeted again in April, decreasing by 1.727 million barrels per day to an average of 18.98 million barrels per day, with Saudi Arabia accounting for about half of the decline. The estimate for Saudi Arabia's production was slightly higher than the official reported level, at 6.768 million barrels per day.
Last month, the United Arab Emirates announced its intention to withdraw from OPEC in May, after nearly 60 years of membership.
The surprising withdrawal decision came after years of tensions with OPEC leader Saudi Arabia over production quotas and disagreements on regional political issues. According to OPEC statutes, the UAE will technically remain a member until January 1.
Despite the severe production losses caused by the war, Saudi Arabia was able to mitigate the impact by diverting some oil exports from the Persian Gulf through another pipeline to the Red Sea. The UAE also has alternative routes for some of its exports. Other Gulf countries have been hit harder.
The report indicates that the second-largest decline in April occurred in Kuwait, where production was roughly halved, dropping to just 600,000 barrels per day. Kuwait's current production is less than a quarter of its pre-war level.
OPEC revised its global oil demand growth forecast for 2026 from 1.4 million barrels per day to 1.2 million barrels per day. This still places the organization's forecast significantly at odds with other forecasting agencies. In its monthly report released earlier on Wednesday, the International Energy Agency stated that global demand this year will shrink by 420,000 barrels per day, the largest decline since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
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