After slumping for much of Wednesday, Brent soared on Thursday morning, after Saudi Arabia stepped in to prop up the recovery in the energy market by raising crude prices for its customers worldwide.
The development came as Brent crude, the international reference, traded $31.52(3pm) yesterday
Saudi’s Aramco increased pricing for most of its grades for june shipment.
According to a price list seen by Bloomberg, Aramco raised its official selling price for flagship Arab Light crude to buyers in Asia by $1.40 a barrel, to a discount of $5.90 below the Middle East benchmark. The company was expected to reduce its official pricing by $2.50 a barrel, to a discount of $9.80, according to the median estimates in a Bloomberg survey of seven traders and refiners.
By increasing pricing for Asia, Aramco is also indicating it sees demand beginning to recover in its largest regional market. The company is reversing three consecutive months of reductions in pricing for the world’s largest oil-consuming region.
Saudi Arabia – which at the start of March launched an unprecedented price war that crashed the market – is now telegraphing that it will “do whatever it takes” to support oil price recovery.
