Saudi Arabia to lift all travel curbs from 31 March

Saudi Arabia will remove all restrictions on movement in and out of the country from 31 March in a move that should boost regional demand for transport fuels — none more so than for jet fuel, which has been most impacted by the Covid-19 virus and the restrictions that have been imposed globally to curb its spread.

Saudi citizens will also be allowed to resume travel to and from the kingdom from this date, more than one year since they were first restricted at the height of the first wave of the Covid-19 outbreak in the middle of March 2020.

The ministry of interior said that the decision was taken following a drop in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country, despite the resurgence of the virus in numerous other countries around the globe.

International air travel in and out of Saudi Arabia had been banned for around six-months following the onset of the pandemic in the first quarter of 2020. The government announced a limited restart of international travel following an improvement in the Covid-19 picture in mid-September, but only for specific categories of people. Among them were Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) citizens, non-Saudis holding valid resident or visit visas, government and military employees and foreign embassy workers.

These flights were again temporarily halted last month as a precautionary measure against the emergence of several new, more transmissible strains of the virus, but again restarted last week.

The imminent lifting of all restrictions comes on the back of a steady improvement in the Covid-19 situation in Saudi Arabia over the past few months. The authorities have announced an average of 105 new cases daily so far in January, down from 212 cases over the same period in December and 411 in November. The number of active Covid-19 cases in the country has fallen to just over 2,000, from a peak of 62,000 in July.

The restrictions had a heavy impact on jet fuel demand in Saudi Arabia.

After the suspension of travel was imposed in mid-March, jet fuel demand in the country fell to 22,000 b/d in the second quarter of 2020, down 78pc from an average of 100,000 b/d in the corresponding period of 2019, according to the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (Jodi).

But demand edged up to 32,000 b/d in June following the restart of domestic flights on 31 May. And even as the country resumed a limited number of international flights in September following a six-month hiatus, month-on-month demand rose by just 3,000 b/d in October, according to latest Jodi figures.

By Ieva Paldaviciute