By : Dr. Franyi Sarmiento, Ph.D., Inspenet, April 8, 2022
The world’s biggest crude oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, raised official selling prices for its flagship crude in the Asian market in May to a new record against regional benchmarks, in a move widely expected by traders and refiners.
The Saudis raised the May OSP for Asia for Arab Light, the Kingdom’s flagship grade, to a record premium of $9.35 a barrel above the Oman/Dubai benchmark, from which U.S. crude is priced. Middle East in Asia.
The May price rises $4.40 a barrel over the April OSP for Arab Light of $4.95 a barrel premium over Oman/Dubai, according to Bloomberg estimates.
Last week, a Bloomberg survey showed Asian refiners and traders expected Saudi Arabia to significantly raise prices again for its Asia-bound crude in May at a record premium over Middle Eastern benchmarks.
For May, Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco raised the prices of all its crude going to the markets.
Rising oil prices and the “buyers’ strike” over the purchase of Russian crude could be an opportunity for Russia’s key ally in the OPEC+ pact, OPEC’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia, to raise its prices. official sales to another all-time high over Oman. /Dubai reference value.
Saudi Arabia generally sets the price trends of the other major Middle Eastern oil producers and typically sets the OSPs for its crude for the following month around the fifth day of each month, usually after the monthly meeting of the OPEC+.
Last week, the OPEC+ meeting concluded that there was no need to change production plans and agreed to increase the group’s production by another 432,000 barrels per day from May.
The 32,000 bpd above the originally agreed 400,000 bpd is due to the change of reference of five of its members.
Saudi Arabia’s production quota was raised to 10.549 million bpd, and Russia’s quota was raised to the same amount.
Loading...
