Saudi Arabia Slightly Raised Arab Light Crude Price to Asia

By Giulia Petroni

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia slightly raised the April price for its flagship Arab Light crude to Asian customers following OPEC+'s decision to extend oil-output cuts into the second quarter of the year.

State-owned oil giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Aramco, set its April official selling price for Arab Light to Asia at $1.70 a barrel over the Oman/Dubai average, from $1.50 a barrel in March. The price is considered a barometer for how the kingdom sees the demand outlook.

Aramco also raised the April price for Arab Extra Light to Asian customers by $0.20 a barrel, and for both Arab Medium and Arab Heavy by $0.30 a barrel compared with the previous month.

Looking at other regions, the oil producer lowered its April prices to northwest Europe and the Mediterranean by around $0.60 to $0.70 a barrel, and to U.S. customers by around $0.10 to $0.20 a barrel.

Markets thought that Aramco would keep prices to Asian customers unchanged, according to DNB Markets' Helge Andre Martinsen. "Hence, the small hike shows that Saudi has no intention to compete for market share in Asia," he said in a note.

Last month, Saudi Arabia kept the March price for Arab Light crude to Asia unchanged from the previous month at a more than two-year low, a move seen by market watchers as an effort to secure market share in the region.

Crude futures trade higher on Wednesday on signs of tightness in the physical market, with Brent crude up 0.5% at $82.48 a barrel and WTI up 0.8% at $78.76 a barrel.

Write to Giulia Petroni at giulia.petroni@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 06, 2024 07:38 ET (12:38 GMT)

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