Saudi Arabia hikes July crude prices surprisingly high for Asia buyers
(VOVWORLD) - Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, raised July crude oil prices for Asian buyers to higher-than-expected levels amid concerns about tight supply and expectations of strong demand in summer.T
The official selling price (OSP) for July-loading Arab Light to Asia was hiked by 2.1 USD a barrel from June to 6.5 USD a barrel over Oman/Dubai quotes, just off an all-time-high recorded in May. That was much higher than most market forecasts for an increase around 1.5 USD.
The hike by state oil producer Saudi Aramco came despite an agreement by OPEC+ states to boost output by 648,000 barrels per day in July and a similar amount in August in an effort to offset Russian supply losses.