JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia raised the prices of all grades it will be shipping to Asia, the U.S., Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean countries, with prices for Asian buyers increased more than expected.
Reportedly, Saudi Arabia’s state-held oil giant Saudi Aramco is raising March prices for Arab Light crude to Asia by $0.30 to a premium of $0.15 to the regional Oman/Dubai benchmark, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing an e-mailed statement by the company.
A median estimate in a survey of six refiners and traders had pointed to Aramco raising the Arab Light official pricing to a premium of $0.10 over the Oman/Dubai benchmark, which many Middle East state oil companies use to price their crude grades bound for Asia.
The majority of traders surveyed by S&P Global Platts expected earlier this week Aramco to raise the March official selling price of Arab Light crude for Asia by $0.10-$0.20.
The experts also expected a rise by at least $0.10 and up to $0.30 for the Arab Light. “It’s simply because of the market structure as the contango is slightly shallower,”.
