LONDON — Following the historic OPEC+ deal in cutting output, Saudi Arabia has managed to add additional market share in Asia and managed to squeeze share out of its key rivals in the largest Asian oil importers, Bloomberg tanker-tracking data showed on Wednesday, said OilPrice.com in its report.

It wrote, Saudi Arabia doubled its crude oil exports to China in April to the highest volumes since at least 2017, exported the most oil to the US since August 2018, and toppled Iraq as India’s top oil supplier last month, according to Bloomberg data.

With the announcement for the May official selling prices coming even after OPEC+ reached a new deal to begin cutting production from May 1, Saudi Aramco slashed the price of its flagship Arab Light crude grade to Asia by another $4.20 per barrel compared to April, to a discount of $7.30 a barrel to the Oman/Dubai benchmark average.

The Saudi strategy to gain market share worked in April, according to Bloomberg’s data. Saudi Arabia’s exports to China doubled to 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), and sales to India surged to 1.1 million bpd — the highest in at least three years — knocking Iraq off the top spot on the list of India’s biggest oil suppliers.

Exports to the United States also soared as the Saudis sent a fleet of oil tankers to the US coasts. According to the report citing Bloomberg’s data, Saudi Arabia’s oil exports to the US jumped to an average of 1 million bpd in April — the highest export volume since August 2018. — OilPrice.com