Saudi Aramco said in a statement on Sunday that the kingdom raised the price of Arab Light crude it sells to Asia in September by 20 cents to $2 a barrel above the Oman/Dubai average.
Saudi Arabia also raised the selling prices of other light crudes sold to Asia, but kept the prices of Arab Medium and Heavy crude unchanged.
According to a Reuters poll, refining sources in Asia expect Aramco to raise the selling price for all crude grades by at least 50 cents a barrel in September compared with August, to achieve gains on the same pattern as Dubai crude last month.
But a Singapore-based trader said the lower-than-expected price rise was likely due to weak refining margins in Asia and as annual supply negotiations loom.
A meeting of senior OPEC+ ministers on Thursday left production policy unchanged, including a plan to start unwinding a tranche of output cuts from October, and reiterated that the increase could be paused or reversed if necessary.
OPEC+ is currently cutting production by a total of 5.86 million barrels per day, or about 5.7 percent of global demand, in a series of steps agreed since 2022 to support the market amid uncertainty over global demand and rising supply outside the group.
State-owned Aramco sets crude oil prices based on customer recommendations and after calculating the change in the value of its oil over the past month, based on revenues and product prices.
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