London (Platts)--18Feb2013/819 am EST/1319 GMT

Crude exports from OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia fell to 7.062 million b/d in December last year, the lowest level since September 2011 when exports averaged 6.813 million b/d, data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative, or JODI, show.

Saudi Arabia told JODI its production had averaged 9.025 million b/d in December.

In January, an industry source told Platts that while the kingdom's production in December had averaged 9.025 million b/d, supply to the market had averaged 9.15 million b/d.

The JODI figures, submitted directly by Riyadh, show a drop in crude production of some 700,000 b/d in Saudi output between October and December last year.

In mid-January, Ibrahim al-Muhanna, an adviser to Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi, rebutted any suggestion that the kingdom had cut output in order to boost oil prices. Muhanna said Saudi production was being driven primarily by customer needs, including seasonally variable domestic demand which had weakened over the previous quarter from the summer peak.

The JODI database is maintained by the Riyadh-headquartered International Energy Forum, a talking shop for oil producing and consuming countries.

--Margaret McQuaile, margaret_mcquaile@platts.com
--Edited by Jeremy Lovell, jeremy_lovell@platts.com

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