Crude oil from Saudi Arabia heading for China is likely to reach 44 million barrels in August following price cuts from Saudi Aramco, which have pushed up demand.

This could be the first time exports into China have risen in four months.

They are expected to hit 36 million barrels in July, according to several traders contacted by a US media agency.

Market trading data released a few weeks ago showed that June’s Saudi exports to China fell to just over one million barrels a day, the lowest since March 2020.

Citing one of the sources, the media organisation said official selling prices for Saudi crude in August were now more reasonable than in previous months, hence the increase in exports.

Offshore Technology recently reported that Saudi Arabia had seemingly kept hold of some of its oil in June, with sea-based exports dropping substantially.

The nation, which holds around 17% of the world’s proven crude oil reserves, accounted for around half of the decline, reported Bloomberg, after assessing ship-tracking data.

According to research from GlobalData, Offshore Technology’s parent company, Asia-Pacific is anticipated to witness the start of 1,946 projects across the oil and gas value chain over the next few years.

Of these, 225 are upstream (fields) projects, midstream projects are at 521, downstream (refineries) projects are at 248 and petrochemical projects are the highest at 952.

New-build projects drive the upcoming projects landscape in Asia-Pacific, constituting 79% of the total projects across the oil and gas value chain.

For several years, Saudi Arabia was China’s biggest supplier of oil but was replaced by Russia last year.

However, the commodity ties between Saudi Arabia and China are long-standing. At the start of this year, Saudi chemical manufacturer SABIC announced it would build a $6.4bn (SR24bn) petrochemical complex in the Chinese province of Fujian.

According to a company exchange filing, SABIC will finance the project through debt, as well as the company’s cash flows.