RIYADH (Reuters) -- Saudi Arabia imported 51,114 barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline in August, higher than expected by traders, due to stockpiling ahead of Ramadan, industry sources said.

The world’s top oil exporter, which was expected to import about 34,100 bpd of gasoline this month, came into the spot market to purchase an additional two spot cargoes of about 30,000 tons, or 256,000 barrels, traders said.
The additional spot barrels were put into the kingdom’s strategic storage, they said.
“They had planned to buy four cargoes, but then came into the market to pick up some additional barrels,” an Asian based trader familiar with Saudi gasoline purchases said.
The OPEC member, which was expected to cut back on gasoline imports in the third-quarter, has been forced to keep purchasing spot barrels because of start-up problems at the new residual fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit at Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical (PetroRabigh), industry sources said.
“The new unit was supposed to make Saudi self-sufficient, but that unit has too many problems, so for now they still have to rely on imports,” a trader said.
PetroRabigh, $10.3 billion joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical started partial operation of the plant at the end of 2008. The integrated facility can produce up to 60,000 bpd of high-octane gasoline that will be converted from fuel oil.
Gasoline imports into the kingdom were expected to fall about 15,000 bpd this year, energy consultancy PFC Energy said.
Demand for the motor fuel, which is heavily subsidized, hit a record high of nearly 400,000 bpd in April, up 6 percent compared to the same period last year, PFC Energy said in a report.