Saudi Arabia has raised the price of its main oil for buyers in Asia, amid heightened volatility in the oil market as traders closely monitor developments in the Middle East conflict.
State producer Saudi Aramco has raised the official selling price of its flagship Arab Light crude grade by 90 cents, offering a $2.20 per barrel premium to the regional standard for buyers in Asia, according to price lists obtained by Bloomberg. I attached it. The company was expected to raise premiums by 65 cents a barrel, according to a survey of traders and refiners.
At the same time, Aramco reduced prices for all grades for the US and Europe.
Oil has soared since early October as Iran launched missile attacks on Israel in retaliation for the devastating attack in Lebanon that nearly wiped out the Hezbollah leadership. Benchmark Brent crude rose more than 8% this week amid the strike and in anticipation of possible Israeli retaliation, trading around $78 a barrel.
So far, markets have avoided most regional risks so far this year as the conflict did not cut supply and traders instead focused on deepening concerns over soft demand. Last month, the OPEC+ coalition led by Saudi Arabia and Russia suspended a planned production increase for two months until early December, amid concerns that a decline in China’s crude oil use could leave a surplus on the market. .
Group member countries that voluntarily cut production will not implement their previous plans to start scaling back production cuts in October and November. Due to delays in starting barrel withdrawals, Saudi Arabia’s exports could remain below 6 million barrels a day, the same as they have been for the past four months.
