Saudi Arabia raised its pricing for June oil sales to Asia by the most since April 2015, a sign that the world's biggest crude exporter expects demand to recover as the global market rebalances, the Bloomberg reported.
State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. increased its official selling price for Arab Light crude to Asia by $1.10 a barrel to 25 cents more than regional benchmarks Oman and Dubai, according to a statement. The company, known as Saudi Aramco, was predicted to raise the grade by 65 cents a barrel, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of five refiners and traders.
The Middle East producer is boosting the cost of its oil to the largest consuming region as unplanned supply outages and disruptions help to curb a global glut and signs of higher demand emerge. Benchmark prices have rallied more than 60 percent since mid-February, rebounding from the biggest crash in a generation on expectation that the surplus will shrink as US production declines.
Arab Light's price to Asia for June is the highest since September. It's only the third time the grade is being sold at a premium to the benchmarks since Saudi Arabia spearheaded OPEC's strategy to keep pumping out crude in November 2014. The group's decision to maintain output as prices cratered forced a curtailment of higher-cost production elsewhere.