Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, raised pricing on most oil grades for sale to Asia and the US in July, after the Kingdom’s Energy Minister said demand was robust.
State oil giant Saudi Aramco increased its official selling price for Arab Light crude by 35 cents a barrel to 60 cents more than the regional benchmark for sales to Asia, it said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg.
Aramco was expected to raise the premium for shipments of Arab Light crude by 40 cents a barrel to 65 cents a barrel more than the benchmark for buyers in Asia, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of five refiners and traders in the region last week.
Aramco raised pricing on most grades for sale to Asia, leaving only the Extra Light blend unchanged, according to the statement.
It raised the premium for Super Light crude by 10 cents, to $4.05 a barrel more than the benchmark. Medium crude will sell at a $1 a barrel discount in July, 30 cents higher than in June, according to the statement.
Aramco is adding about 250,000 barrels a day of Arab Extra Light crude capacity with the expansion of the Shaybah field in the Kingdom’s southeastern Rub Al-Khali desert, it said in its annual review last month.
