Saudi Arabia’s June oil exports drop $8.7 billion amid global coronavirus slowdown

Saudi Arabia registered a 55 percent drop in the value of its oil exports in June compared to the same month a year ago, equal to $8.7 billion, official data revealed Wednesday.

Total exports, however, grew 19.1 percent compared to the previous month, May, a value of $1.86 billion, the General Authority for Statistics said.

The coronavirus pandemic has precipitated a global slowdown, with experts predicting it will cause the greatest recession in nearly a century. In tandem with an economic slowdown, oil prices have also plummeted, and even at point turned negative, as oversupply led traders to sell the black gold for lower and lower prices.

Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, the world’s largest oil firm, produces oil for the cheapest price of any major producer, but has still begun making several structural changes to its business to weather lean months of low prices.

In May, Saudi oil exports fell by $12 billion year-on-year.

With Reuters.

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