In the first full month following the outbreak of widespread conflict in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia's revenue from oil exports surged to $24.7 billion in March, reaching its highest point in over three years. The country leveraged its Red Sea shipping route capacity and benefited from rising energy prices, offsetting trade disruptions caused by hindered traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Data from Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Statistics shows that the total value of the kingdom's crude oil and petroleum product exports in March increased by 37% year-on-year, marking the highest figure since October 2022. A key driver of this revenue increase was the significant rise in prices for both crude oil and refined products following the outbreak of conflict in late February.
After shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was disrupted, Saudi Arabia successfully rerouted a large portion of its crude oil via domestic pipelines to ports on its west coast.
The benchmark London crude oil price surged by 43% in March. The near-halting of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz caused a significant reduction in global crude supply, severely impacting the economies of some Gulf nations. Saudi Arabia, however, quickly activated its cross-country oil pipeline to transport crude to alternative ports along the Red Sea coast. By the end of March, the kingdom's oil export capacity had recovered to approximately 70% of its pre-conflict level.
In a research report released in late April, Goldman Sachs noted that Saudi Arabia's weekly oil revenue was running about 10% higher than its pre-conflict level.
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