(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia gave customers in Asia and the US small price hikes for its crude a day after the kingdom and Russia prolonged their efforts to tighten the oil market.
State-owned Saudi Aramco raised its flagship Arab Light price to Asia in October by 10 cents to $3.60 a barrel more than the benchmark, according to a price list seen by Bloomberg. While that's still the highest since December, the hike while lower than an expected 30-cent increase in a Bloomberg survey.
For US-bound supplies, OPEC's de facto leader raised prices for all grades by 20 cents a barrel to a record high.
Also Read | Layoffs Are Rising In Tech, But These Skills Are Helping People Unlock Better Pay
The move comes after Saudi Arabia said this week that it will prolong supply cuts into December. It will hold output at about 9 million barrels a day, the lowest level in several years, while Russia is extending its own export curbs.
That has sparked confidence that the the oil market is set to see a strong end to 2023. Following months of tightening supply, Brent crude futures topped $90 a barrel in recent days and some traders are wagering on $100.
There was some relief for buyers in Europe, which have been subjected to a string of sharp price hikes in recent months. Aramco cut the cost of supply into the Mediterranean and Northwest Europe by 10 cents a barrel, the list showed, though they remain high historically.
Customers of the kingdom's crude in Europe have had to scramble for alternatives with many now switching to sweet, or low-sulfur, oil.
The prices of more sulfurous crude, which makes up a majority of the Saudi supply reductions, have soared so far this year, and have at times left benchmark Brent crude futures trading at unusual discounts to lower-quality barrels from the Middle East.
(Updates with US price record in third paragraph.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
