Oil prices remain unchanged today following a fall in Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports.
Brent crude for September increased 5 cents at $57.15 a barrel, while the US crude futures for August, also known as West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 5 cents at $50.94 a barrel, Reuters reported.
In May, crude oil exports of Saudi Arabia declined to a five-month low since December.
The exports from major OPEC country slumped as local refineries used more supplies while Chinese plants were closed for maintenance.
According to official data, daily shipments from the country was 6.935 million barrels a day (bpd) in May compared with 7.737 million bpd in April.
In order to benefit from strong profit margins, global refineries are still operating at near maximum levels indicating that oversupply in the crude oil market may be shifting to refined products.
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By GlobalDataSEB chief commodity analyst Bjarne Schieldrop told the news agency: "We are seeing the crude surplus moving into the oil products with elevated inventories in Europe for gasoline, naphtha and especially gasoil."
JBC Energy said that the second half of 2015 may witness an increase in refinery operations in recent months.
A report by Baker Hughes noted that drillers in the US reduced seven oil rigs last week following an increase for a period of two weeks.