Saudi Aramco unexpectedly cuts June butane prices while raising propane

Dubai — Saudi Aramco unexpectedly cut its June contract prices for butane while raising propane.

Butane was lowered by $10 to $330/mt while propane was increased $10 to $350/mt, Saudi Aramco said Sunday in a pricing list. The company was expected to set propane at parity with butane as it did for May contract prices, traders told S&P Global Platts last week.

The cut in Saudi Arabia's June oil output, in line with moves by the OPEC+ coalition, has also reduced production of natural gas liquids, including propane and ethane, limiting feedstock supply to domestic petrochemical plants, traders said. Aramco's contract prices, which set the price of propane and butane lifted from the Saudi Arabian ports of Yanbu, Ras Tanura and Ju'aymah under term supply contracts, are closely watched by the market as they tend to set a base level for pricing most markets east of Suez.