Aramco to meet oil supply demands of most Asian countries

Saudi Arabia will supply all the crude oil that was requested by India’s state-owned refiners and at least five other Asian customers next month as the linchpin producer starts to ramp up output, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.

The kingdom will deliver in full what most of the refiners asked for in May-loading cargoes, while one of the customers got its volume to the US curtailed, according to officials notified by Saudi Aramco.

Led by Saudi Arabia, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will restore from May some of the supply that was cut back as the pandemic ravaged demand. Following that decision, the Saudis hiked pricing for the key Asian market in expectation that consumption will rebound further.

India’s current round of allocations attracted particular scrutiny after its four state-owned refiners including Indian Oil Corp. had submitted lower nominations, or requests for supply. Overall, the country will take about a single Aframax-size vessel - typically about 600,000 barrels - less than granted in the prior month’s allocations, people familiar with the matter said.

With tension between India and Saudi Arabia over Riyadh’s oil policy, its state-owned processors had asked to reduce next month’s volumes by about one-third of their monthly average. However, India’s refiners are in peak maintenance season and the nation is battling a resurgence in Covid-19, potentially indicating the amount needed for the month is below average.

Meanwhile, the volume of Arab Light crude was reduced for two other buyers in the region, and a third customer got its supply for Asia fulfilled but was notified of some cuts to its US operations.

At least two European refiners received the volumes they requested, though one of them asked for a much lower amount than normal, according to traders involved in the market.