Saudi Aramco announced raising the official selling price for Arab Light crude oil for shipments next September to its customers in Asia, to record high levels despite the decline in refining margins.
Aramco decided to increase the official selling price to Asia for Arab Light Crude Petroleum, for the third month in a row, to $9.80 a barrel, up $0.50 from this month.
The new prices revealed by Saudi Aramco, today, Thursday, August 4th, exceeded the previous record of $9.35 per barrel recorded during shipments for the month of May.
Despite the increase in Saudi oil prices for September shipments; It came in less than market expectations, which estimated it from 70 cents to one dollar per barrel.
“Now all grades of crude are cheaper, so Saudi Arabia needs to make its prices competitive, otherwise traders will take spot shipments instead of Saudi oil,” a trader in Singapore said.
Aramco’s move comes one day after the decision of the OPEC + alliance led by Saudi Arabia and Russia to increase production by about 100,000 barrels per day during next September, which is one of the smallest monthly increases decided by the alliance.
The oil prices had ended their dealings, yesterday, Wednesday; Brent crude fell nearly 4% to below $100 a barrel, after data showed a decline in gasoline consumption in the United States, and with production recovering in Libya.
Saudi Arabia is the largest exporter of oil in the world, and sells most of its crude in Asia; Aramco’s monthly pricing decisions are seen as the oil market leader, and are often followed by similar moves from other major producers in the Persian Gulf.
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