Kuwait raises July formula crude price to Asia

Kuwait's state-owned oil firm KPC has raised the official formula price of July-loading cargoes of Kuwait Export Crude (KEC) by 10¢/bl on the month for customers in its core Asia-Pacific market, in line with price moves announced by Saudi Aramco.

Aramco boosted the July formula prices of its Arab Light and Medium crude grades by 10-20¢/bl for Asia-Pacific buyers, while trimming the Arab Heavy price by 10¢/bl on the month. Similarly, Iraq's Somo increased its Basrah Light and Medium formula prices by 15-20¢/bl for July cargoes to Asia, while easing the Basrah Heavy price by 10¢/bl.

For buyers in northwest Europe, KPC has raised KEC's July formula price by 35¢/bl compared with June. For Mediterranean customers, it has hiked prices by 15-20¢/bl. Aramco lifted prices for its Arab Light, Medium and Heavy grades by 40¢-$1/bl for these regions, while Somo raised the formula prices of July-loading Basrah and Kirkuk cargoes bound for Europe by 15-40¢/bl.

KPC and Somo typically mirror the direction of Aramco's month-on-month price adjustments for customers in northwest European and the Mediterranean, but the size of the changes can diverge because of differences in the pricing basis. Whereas KPC and Somo benchmark their European prices against North Sea Dated, Aramco uses Ice Brent futures.

KPC has followed Aramco in leaving the KEC July formula price unchanged for US customers. Somo trimmed its prices for US-bound cargoes by 10-15¢/bl from June.

By Ruxandra Iordache