Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports rose for a fifth straight month in October to the highest in 30 months, data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Monday.

Crude exports rose about 0.7% to 7.773 million barrels per day (bpd) in October - the highest since April 2020 – from 7.721 million bpd in September.

The world’s largest oil exporter’s crude production, however, fell to 10.957 million bpd in October from 11.041 million bpd in the previous month.

Monthly export figures are provided by Riyadh and other OPEC members to JODI, which publishes them on its website.

OPEC last week said it expected to see robust global oil demand growth in 2023 with potential economic upside coming from a relaxation of China’s zero-COVID policies, which this year have pushed the country’s oil use into contraction for the first time in years.

World oil demand in 2023 will rise by 2.25 million barrels per day (bpd), it had said.

Oil rises on hopes for China’s economy

Oil prices have been steadily declining on fears of a looming recession, after central banks across Europe and North America signalled they will continue to battle inflation by raising interest rates.

Earlier in the month, OPEC+ agreed to stick to its oil output targets at a meeting on Sunday as the oil markets struggle to assess the impact of a slowing Chinese economy on demand and a G7 price cap on Russian oil on supply.

Saudi’s domestic crude refinery throughput decreased by 14,000 bpd to 2.679 million bpd in October, while direct crude burn fell 142,000 bpd to 380,000 bpd.