* Aramco targets large European refiners of Russian oil
* Offers maximum volumes at steep discounts
* Oil majors, refiners in Europe grab cheap oil
(Adds details, recasts)
By Olga Yagova
MOSCOW, March 13 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is flooding Europe
with oil at prices as low as $25 per barrel, specifically
targetting big refiners of Russian oil in an escalation of its
fight with Moscow for market share, five trading sources said on
Friday.
The sources, from oil majors and refiners which process
crude in Europe, said Saudi state oil company Aramco told them
it would supply all requested additional volumes in April.
Oil prices have halved since the start of the year because
demand has been hit by the coronavirus outbreak and after Russia
and OPEC failed to reach a new deal on supply cuts.
Moscow refused to support new deeper cuts and Riyadh
retaliated by opening its taps and pledging to pump record
volumes on to the market.
Saudi Arabia has made a deep cut to its official selling
prices for oil. Arab Light and Arab Medium barrels were offered
at selling price of $25-28 per barrel on CIF Rotterdam basis,
traders said.
Russia's main blend Urals has been offered slightly higher
that $30 per barrel on CIF Rotterdam basis, according to
Refinitiv Eikon data. <URL-NWE-E>
"We are happy with our allocation. The requests for April
was confirmed. I look forward to May if prices remain that
attractive", a trader with a European oil company involved in
the talks told Reuters.
European oil refiners including Total, BP,
Eni and SOCAR have all had allocations for additional
Saudi crude oil supplies in April confirmed, the sources said.
Saudi Aramco declined to comment. Total, BP, Eni and SOCAR
did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
On Thursday, sources told Reuters Saudia Arabia started
focusing on boosting supplies to traditional buyers of Urals as
it is trying to replace Russian oil in refiners' feedstock
around the world, from Europe to India.
Brent crude was on track for its worst week since the 2008
financial crisis on Friday as investors fretted over the impact
of the virus on demand and the Russian-Saudi price war.
(Reporting by Olga Yagova; Editing by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Jan
Harvey)
BP (BP.)
