Saudi Arabia is to cut supply in April to a major Asian buyer, ahead of OPEC’s meeting next week.
The Kingdom will keep full contracted volumes to other buyers, but will supply crude at 10% below nominated volumes next month to a big refiner in northeast Asia, industry sources told Reuters.
The decrease will apply to all light, medium and heavy grades, the source added.
“It’s not a big issue for us, we can cover that by term volumes from other Middle East countries,” Reuters quoted the industry insider as saying.
Other Asian term buyers will be supplied with full contracted volumes in April.
For the majority of last year Saudi Arabia curbed its supplies in line with OPEC agreements, since January the country has supplied most Asian buyers with full contracted volumes.
OPEC is expected to keep oil production targets steady when it meets in Vienna this month, but could raise output later in the year.
More Saudi Arabia and OPEC news on ArabianOilandGas.com.
