Aramco raises some November Asia crude prices

Spanish Market: Crude oil
06/10/20

State-controlled Saudi Aramco has raised the official formula prices for November-loading exports of lighter Saudi crude grades heading to its core Asia-Pacific market, but it has cut or kept unchanged prices for buyers elsewhere.

Aramco has lifted prices for November's eastbound cargoes of Arab Light, Extra Light and Super Light by 10-30¢/bl compared with this month, while leaving Arab Medium and Heavy prices for customers in Asia-Pacific unchanged.

Expectations among buyers in Asia-Pacific had been mixed. Some traders forecast that Aramco would raise prices by around 10-20¢/bl, in line with the month-on-month change in inter-month Dubai spreads. Others expected the company to roll over its monthly official formula prices or opt for slight cuts amid concerns of a second wave of Covid-19 lockdown measures in the region.

Aramco has dropped prices of November-loading shipments of Arab Medium and Heavy for clients in northwest Europe by 10¢/bl and 30¢/bl, respectively, and has kept the remaining grades unchanged on the month. For Mediterranean refiners, prices of all grades have been lowered by 30-50¢/bl from October. Regional market participants had expected Aramco to slash its November prices by up to 50¢/bl amid persistently weak refinery margins and lower Urals prices.

Meanwhile, November prices for US buyers have been held steady, with the exception of a 10¢/bl decline for Arab Extra Light. An approaching hurricane could disrupt refinery operations on the US Gulf coast, while some US Gulf sour crude supply that rivals Saudi grades is in the process of being shut in.

By Ruxandra Iordache

Saudi Aramco November formula prices			$/bl
	November	October	m-o-m ±
US (vs ASCI)
Extra Light	1.40	1.50	-0.10
Arab Light	1.05	1.05	0.00
Arab Medium	0.35	0.35	0.00
Arab Heavy	0.00	0.00	0.00
Northwest Europe (vs marker crude Ice Brent)
Extra Light	-1.90	-1.90	0.00
Arab Light	-2.00	-2.00	0.00
Arab Medium	-2.00	-1.90	-0.10
Arab Heavy	-2.30	-2.00	-0.30
Asia-Pacific (vs Oman/Dubai)
Super Light	0.85	0.55	0.30
Extra Light	-0.60	-0.80	0.20
Arab Light	-0.40	-0.50	0.10
Arab Medium	-0.30	-0.30	0.00
Arab Heavy	-0.30	-0.30	0.00
Mediterranean fob Ras Tanura (vs marker crude Ice Brent)
Extra Light	-1.50	-1.20	-0.30
Arab Light	-1.90	-1.60	-0.30
Arab Medium	-2.10	-1.60	-0.50
Arab Heavy	-2.10	-1.80	-0.30
Mediterranean fob Sidi Kerir (vs marker crude Ice Brent)
Extra Light	-0.90	-0.60	-0.30
Arab Light	-1.30	-1.00	-0.30
Arab Medium	-1.50	-1.00	-0.50
Arab Heavy	-1.50	-1.20	-0.30
Source: Saudi Aramco

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