Saudi Arabia holds top crude oil exporter title in 2018

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Saudi Arabia retained the title of the world's top crude oil exporter last year, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency on British energy giant BP's Statistical Review of World Energy 2019 report.

The kingdom's crude oil exports rose by 2.8% to reach 7.38 mbpd in 2018 from 7.18 mbpd in 2017, the report that was released on Tuesday showed.

Russia increased its crude oil exports only modestly, by 1.1% year-over-year, to 5.54 mbpd last year, from 5.48 mbpd the previous year, and came in second place.

Iraq was in third place after the country increased its crude oil exports to a whopping 7.2 mbpd from 4.03 mbpd in 2018 and 3.76 mbpd in 2017, the report showed.

The world recorded a total of 45.45 mbpd of crude oil exports last year, which was a 3.1% increase from 44.09 mbpd the year before.

- Saudis second on oil reserves

In total proved oil reserves last year, Venezuela came on top once again with 303.3 billion barrels.

Saudi Arabia was in second place with 297.7 billion barrels, followed by Canada that had 167.8 billion barrels of reserves thanks to its rich tar sands resources.

Iran was in fourth place with 155.6 billion barrels of total proved oil reserves, while Iraq ranked fifth with 147.2 billion barrels.

- Oil product exports

The U.S. led the world in oil product exports in 2018 with 5.26 mbpd -- a 7.1% increase from the previous year of 4.91 mbpd.

Russia came in second on that field by exporting 3.62 mbpd of oil products, compared to 3.5 mbpd exported it exported in 2017, marking a 3.4% increase.

Singapour saw its oil product exports decline 7.9% year-over-year to 1.87 mbpd in 2018, from 2.03 mbpd in 2017.

The world recorded a total of 25.9 mbpd of oil product exports last year, which was a 1.4% increase from 25.54 mbpd the year before.

- Top importer China

China was the world's largest importer of crude oil and oil products last year, according to BP's report.

The world's second largest economy saw a 7.8% jump in its crude oil and oil products imports, which climbed to 11.04 mbpd in 2018, from 10.24 mbpd in 2017.

The world's biggest economy, the U.S., came in second place in that field after it saw its crude oil and oil products imports decline by 2.2% to 9.93 mbpd last year, from 10.15 mbpd the year before.

India was in third place, importing 5.22 mbpd of crude oil and oil products in 2018 -- a 5.4% increase from 2017 when that level stood at 4.95 mbpd.

The world recorded a total of 71.34 mbpd of crude oil and oil product imports last year, which was a 2.4% increase from 69.63 mbpd the year before.