Saudi Arabia also raised the OSPs for Arab Medium and Arab Heavy, crude grades that contain more sulphur than Arab Light, by 30 cents and 50 cents in May respectively. The size of the price increase on Arab Heavy follows a stronger demand for heavier crude in the region as new refineries designed to process heavy grade, such as PetroChina's Jieyang plant, are coming online. "Higher OSPs would undoubtedly eat refiners' margins. But the key question is if and when Saudi's output cut is to have impact on supply to its term buyers," said a Singapore-based trader. The market participants had expected that the OPEC+ production cut could prompt Asian refiners to seek more supply from Russia, Africa and the Americas. For other regions, the top oil exporter set its Arab Light OSP to northwest Europe at $1 a barrel above ICE Brent for May, unchanged from April. Meanwhile, the OSP to the United States was raised by 10 cents from last month at $6.75 versus ASCI for May.
Saudi term crude supplies to Asia are priced as a differential to the Oman/Dubai average:
MAY APRIL CHANGE
EXTRA LIGHT +2.70 +0.10
+2.80
LIGHT +2.50 +0.30
+2.80
MEDIUM +2.50 +0.30
+2.80
HEAVY +0.75 +0.50
+1.25
Prices at Ras Tanura destined for United States are set against ASCI:
MAY APRIL CHANGE
EXTRA LIGHT +8.20 +0.20
+8.40
LIGHT +6.65 +0.10
+6.75
MEDIUM +6.45 +0.50
+6.95
HEAVY +6.00 +0.50
+6.50
Prices at Ras Tanura destined for Northwest Europe are set against ICE Brent:
MAY APRIL CHANGE
EXTRA LIGHT +1.60 0.00
+1.60
LIGHT +1.00 0.00
+1.00
MEDIUM +0.50 0.00
+0.50
HEAVY -2.60 0.00
-2.60
Prices at Ras Tanura for Saudi oil destined for the Mediterranean are set against ICE Brent:
MAY APRIL CHANGE
EXTRA LIGHT +2.10 0.00
+2.10
LIGHT +0.80 0.00
+0.80
MEDIUM +0.50 0.00
+0.50
HEAVY -3.10 0.00
-3.10
(Reporting by Muyu Xu; Additional reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Jan Harvey, Jane Merriman and Andrea Ricci)
