Aramco chief says crude buffer is nearly gone, refill could take two years

Amin Nasser says Aramco is studying new export routes and more overseas storage as commercial oil inventories fall

Saudi Aramco's chief executive, Amin Nasser, says the world's spare cushion of crude oil has nearly run out. He says commercial onshore inventories have fallen well below 6 billion barrels, calling that level the last buffer available to meet demand, and that rebuilding stocks while still supplying the market could take as long as two years.

Nasser says Aramco is studying additional export routes for its crude and working on expanding storage overseas. He also pointed to plans to raise sales-gas production capacity by roughly 80% by 2030, measured against 2021 output. He said protecting the infrastructure and routes the world depends on for energy requires collective international effort.

The warning lands awkwardly next to Aramco's own pricing. On October 5, the company cut its Arab Light prices to Asian buyers by $5 a barrel, the steepest discount in six years, a move that came alongside a near 2% drop in Brent and WTI that day. Nasser made similar comments that same day about supply running dangerously low.

A chief executive warning that the buffer is shrinking while his own company discounts barrels to attract buyers is a harder signal for traders to square than the pipeline and Houthi disruption stories that have shaped the market narrative recently. Suppliers typically cut prices when physical flows are loosening, not tightening, and the gap between Nasser's words and Aramco's pricing leaves traders with two contradictory readings of the same market.