The fact that oil reserves are at a record level does not sound as good news amid supply glut on the global oil market. But it is so, and pallid statistics speaks for itself. Saudi Arabia’s commercial crude oil inventories reached 326.6 million barrels which is the highest figure for the last 15 years. In August, the kingdom did not manage to export 6.4 million barrels of crude oil and put the unsold product into storage. The experts are not surprised at the current situation, because Saudi Arabia has been steadily boosting oil production for the whole year as the recent OPEC report says. Oil production in July reached 10.332 million barrels a day and then slid to 10.273 million barrels in August and 10.225 million barrels in September. In total, OPEC member countries pumped 31.571 million barrels in September. However, the demand for oil has been falling behind the production growth for a long time. Currently, the market is ready to sell 29.6 million barrels a day. That is almost 2 million barrels less than only OPEC member countries produce. That is why oil producers cut prices on fears to lose their market share. For example, Saudi Aramco once again offered discounts on all oil blends for clients from Asia, the United States, and Eastern Europe. The official selling price for Medium blend was reduced by a three year high of 1.9 US dollars. In addition, the oil producer cut official prices on Arab Light blend by 1.7 US dollars for its Asian clients. However, these marketing measures do not make customers line up as many of them are bargain hunting.
