Saudi Aramco raises July OSPs after OPEC+ cuts extended

Dubai — Saudi Aramco on June 7 hiked its July crude export official selling prices across the board, for all regions and grades, a day after OPEC and its allies agreed to continue historic production cuts for another month.

The OSP differential for its Arab Light crude headed to Asia was set at plus 20 cents/b against the average of the Dubai and Oman benchmarks over July. That is up by $6.10/b from the June price, far above the $2-$5/b increase that traders had expected, according to an S&P Global Platts survey.

Aramco also set the OSP differentials for its Extra Light and Medium crudes headed to Asia at a 20 c/b premium to the average of Dubai and Oman, a month-on-month rise of $6.70/b and $5.90/b, respectively.

The Saudi oil giant, whose monthly pricing is one of the most closely watched data points on the global market, had delayed the release of its OSPs pending the result of the July 6 OPEC+ meeting, which ended with an extension of the coalition's 9.6 million b/d output cut agreement through July. The cuts had been scheduled to roll back to 7.7 million b/d at the end of June.

Under the deal, Saudi Arabia will hold its crude production to 8.49 million b/d.

Aramco, the world's largest exporter of crude, has typically released its month-ahead OSPs by the first five days of the previous month.

Discount pricing

Of all the 17 prices listed in Aramco's statements, only two were still at discounts to their respective benchmarks. Arab Heavy heading to Asia was set at minus 10 cents/b to the Dubai and Oman average, up $5.60/b from June, and Arab Heavy heaving to Northwest Europe at ICE Brent minus 50c/b, up $3.90/b.

For cargoes destined for the Mediterranean, Aramco also made sharp increases, with Arab Extra Light rising $5.30 from June to plus $1.90/b over ICE Brent and Arab Light raised $4.70/b to $1.20/b over ICE Brent.

The Arab Light OSP differential for cargoes headed to Northwest Europe was hiked by $4/b from June, to plus 30 cents/b over ICE Brent for July. Aramco raised the price of NWE Arab Extra Light by $3.90/b from June to plus 80 cents/b over ICE Brent.

Meanwhile, it hiked the NWE OSPs for Arab Medium by $4.20/b to parity with ICE Brent.

Saudi Aramco made more moderate price hikes for all of its grades headed to the US in July.

Its OSP differential for Arab Extra Light was set at a premium of $2/b to the Argus Sour Crude Index (ASCI), up 60c/b from June, while Arab Light was up 60c/b to plus $1.35/b for July. The Arab Medium OSP differential was raised 50c/b from June to plus 55 cents/b in July, and the Arab Heavy OSP differential for the US was increased 40 cents/b to plus 10 cents/b.