At the end of the year, Saudi Arabia received unexpectedly large revenues from oil sales to foreign countries. Despite some of the lowest monthly revenues in December, Riyadh’s economy grew 8.7 percent, the largest increase among G20 countries, Bloomberg reported, citing data from the kingdom’s General Statistics Office. How much oil does Saudi Arabia produce?

Saudi Arabia oil revenues

The high income of Saudi Arabia from crude oil exports is more unexpected because its oil revenues have been declining for the sixth month in a row. But the second-largest “unexpected” profit in the kingdom’s history gives Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman more cash to diversify the national economy and gradually move away from his heavy reliance on commodity exports, the article specifies.

“With oil prices ending last year around $80 a barrel after rising sharply to triple digits, Saudi Arabia received 85.5 billion rials ($22.8 billion) in December from exports of crude oil and refined products. Although monthly receipts were the lowest in nearly a year, oil revenues reached nearly $326 billion in 2022,” the story said.

On December 25, the website of Saudi Arabia’s statistical office reported that the kingdom’s oil revenues reached 95.796 billion rials ($25.5 billion) in October 2022. The figure was the lowest since February. By comparison, Riyadh managed to export a total of 100.192 billion rials worth of oil in September.

Earlier we reported that oil prices rose on expectations of demand in China.