Saudi Aramco has offered prompt crude cargoes through a series of rare spot tenders as the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupts shipments and forces producers to reroute exports via the Red Sea.
The world’s largest crude exporter has offered about 4.6 million barrels across three grades — Arab Extra Light, Arab Light and Arab Heavy — in recent days, traders with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.
The tenders come as oil flows through the Gulf face disruption and producers adjust export routes.
Spot tenders reflect supply constraints
Saudi Aramco usually sells most of its crude through long-term supply contracts rather than spot tenders. Traders said the company priced the cargoes at a premium to the official selling prices (OSPs) for March.The OSPs were set last month before the latest escalation of conflict in the Middle East.
Some of the oil was offered on a delivered basis from a supertanker carrying about 2 million barrels that was positioned near Taiwan. Traders said a Japanese refiner purchased that cargo.
The remaining volumes are expected to load from the port of Yanbu on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast and from Ain Sokhna in Egypt.
Saudi Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Red Sea terminals handle rising export volumes
The disruption to Gulf shipping routes has pushed Saudi Arabia to redirect crude through its western infrastructure. The kingdom has increased flows through its pipeline system to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.Shipments from Saudi Arabia’s western terminals have reached about 2.3 million barrels a day so far this month, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
That figure is roughly 50 per cent higher than the monthly volumes shipped from those terminals at any point since the end of 2016, the data show.
No Saudi crude has moved through the Strait of Hormuz so far this month. Ship-tracking data show that the last tanker to pass through the waterway was the New Vision, which transited on the night of February 28.
