Saudi Aramco CEO Warns of Scarily Thin Global Oil Stockpiles

NEW YORK, October 5. /TASS/. Global oil stockpiles have become "scarily thin," creating a risk of worsening market conditions unless shipping through the Strait of Hormuz fully resumes, Saudi Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser warned, Bloomberg reported.

"Until Hormuz fully re-opens and confidence returns, the crude reality is that pressure at both ends of the barrel will intensify," the chief executive said at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London. "While the squeeze on crude is serious, refined fuel prices have risen even more sharply."

According to Nasser, global oil consumption continues to rise, meaning that countries will require additional supplies for at least the next two years to replenish their inventories. This could trigger an extra demand of at least 2 million barrels per day.

The Aramco chief noted that at the onset of the US-Iran military conflict, global oil inventories stood at approximately 10 billion barrels. They have since plummeted to less than 6 billion barrels, with only about 10% of that volume practically available due to technical constraints. Meanwhile, Persian Gulf producers have already managed to ramp up exports to near prewar levels, Nasser added.

Earlier, Reuters reported that Saudi Aramco had unexpectedly slashed its November official selling prices (OSPs) for Asia to six-year lows. According to company data, the price of its flagship Arab Light crude for Asian buyers was set at $5 a barrel below the Oman/Dubai benchmark. The agency noted that this adjusted discount marked the widest since June 2020.

On October 2, the Group of Seven (G7) nations agreed, in coordination with the International Energy Agency (IEA), to release 100 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products from strategic reserves over a four-month period. The G7 specifically indicated that, during the first 20 days, member countries and their partners intend to prioritize the drawdown of significant volumes of diesel fuel.