Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world’s largest oil producer, increased its official selling price for Arab Light crude for July shipment to Asia by 20 cents to $2.10 a barrel more than the Middle East benchmark, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing a company statement.
The increased pricing on key crude grades for buyers in Asia is the highest since 2014. However, Aramco increased the premium by less than the 34 cent rise expected by six traders in a Bloomberg survey.
Aramco’s Extra Light and Medium grades will also sell to Asia at the widest premiums since 2014, while Heavy crude is at the highest level since 2012.
The Saudi oil major raised pricing for all grades to Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean region and for most crudes to the US, where only Extra Light was left unchanged.
Saudi Arabia’s pricing announcement for its monthly crude exports is the first indication of how oil producers in Gulf see markets.
The higher or lower month-to-month official selling prices (OSPs) set by countries signals how strong or weak it views demand globally. Other Middle Eastern producers use the Saudi prices as a benchmark for their own OSPs.
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