Near-term demand for Saudi Arabia’s oil in China is soaring after the Kingdom early this month slashed its official selling prices (OSPs) for Asia to the lowest level versus regional benchmarks in more than five years.
In early February, Saudi Aramco cut the OSP of its flagship Arab Light for March loadings to parity with the Oman/Dubai average benchmark, off which the Kingdom prices its crude oil going to Asia.
The cut of $0.30 per barrel, to parity with Oman/Dubai from a $0.30 a barrel premium for February, was the fourth consecutive cut of the Saudi prices for Asia-bound oil, although it wasn’t as deep as expected.
Trading sources had expected that Saudi Arabia could even price its oil to Asia at a discount to the Middle Eastern benchmark.
But even at parity, which is the lowest pricing to Oman/Dubai since December 2020, the Arab Light grade and other Saudi crudes become increasingly attractive for buyers in China and the wider region.
The Saudis are keen to boost market share in the world’s top importing region amid perceived global oversupply and hefty discounts at which Russia’s oil is being sold in China.
As a result of the prices at parity with Oman/Dubai, oil loadings from Saudi Arabia to China in March are estimated at about 56-57 million barrels, up from 48 million barrels loading in February, anonymous traders with knowledge of the orders told Bloomberg on Monday.
India is also set to buy at least 1 million barrels additional crude from Saudi Arabia than it typically purchases under long-term deals with Aramco, according to Bloomberg’s sources.
India is under pressure from the United States to slash imports of crude oil from Russia and it is already boosting purchases from the Middle East and West Africa.
Despite India’s vague response to the U.S. claim that New Delhi has committed to stop purchases of Russian oil, the U.S.-India trade deal could be incentive enough for Indian buyers to slash imports from Russia, analysts say.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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