RE: MONDAY CLOSING SP7 Jun 2020 18:50
Saudi Aramco on Sunday raised the price at which it will sell oil to all global markets in July, after the Riyadh-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed with its allies on Saturday to extend historic price cuts through the month of July.
State-run Saudi Arabian Oil Co. raised the official selling price of all grades of crude sold to the Far East in July, raising the July price for its Arab light crude oil to Asia by $6.10 a barrel from June to a 20 cents-a-barrel premium to the Oman/Dubai average.
Aramco also increased the price of super-light crude-oil by $7.30 a barrel, shifting its price from a discount to a $1.65-a-barrel premium to the Oman/Dubai average. With higher quality light grades of crude oil tending to be used in the production of jet fuel and gasoline, the move is a signal that Far East Asian oil demand is beginning to recover from the worst effects of coronavirus lockdowns.
In the wake of a demand-damaging coronavirus pandemic and a vertiginous price rout during April, the 23-nation alliance of OPEC and its allies agreed earlier this week to continue their efforts at rebalancing a global oil market in the early stages of recovery.
Led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, the cartel agreed in April to cut output by 9.7 million barrels a day, withholding some 13% of supply from the global oil market and elected this week to continue those cuts through the end of July before reducing them.
Oil prices have rallied over recent weeks amid the beginnings of a pickup in demand for oil and oil products as some regions have emerged from lockdown, and ahead of the widely-expected supply cut extension.
Analysts expect that the longer cuts will speed up the rebalancing of global oil supply and demand. In that vein, Aramco also increased all of its selling prices to the U.S., North West Europe, and the Mediterranean. In each of those reasons, the company increased its light crude prices by 60 cents a barrel, $4 a barrel, and $4.70 a barrel, respectively.
"The 9.7 million barrel-a-day production cuts were already working, extending them an extra month will tighten the market more quickly," said Ann-Louise Hittle, vice president of macro oils at consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, after OPEC's decision.
"The fundamentals show the oil market is recovering from March's price shock. Supply has shifted dramatically...[and] global demand is recovering too, with both May and June climbing from the low seen in April as the coronavirus-related shutdowns continue to ease," she added.