Saudis raise oil pricing to Asia after attacks cut output
Aramco increased its official selling price for Arab Light crude by 70 cents a barrel
Dubai: Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, raised all pricing for November oil sales to Asia as refining margins rose and the country’s state oil producer pulled out the stops to maintain supply after aerial attacks briefly knocked out half its output last month.
State-oil producer Saudi Aramco increased its official selling price for Arab Light crude for November shipment to buyers in Asia by 70 cents a barrel to a premium of $3 above the Middle East benchmark. Five traders and refiners in a Bloomberg survey had expected pricing for the grade to rise by 55 cents a barrel to a premium of $2.85 a barrel.
Saudi Arabia experienced the worst-ever attack on its energy infrastructure when more than two dozen explosives-laden drones and missiles smashed into some of its biggest crude-processing facilities. The attacks at Abqaiq and Khurais in the kingdom’s east caused Aramco to halt 5.7 million barrels a day of Light crude production. The country has succeeded in raising output to 9.9 million barrels a day, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi energy minister, said at the Russia Energy Week conference in Moscow.