Saudi Arabia announced late Monday it had increased prices for its oil for Asian customers, the first increase in five months by the Kingdom for its biggest market.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co or Saudi Aramco hiked its prices for the December contract for its main Arab Light grade to the Far East by $0.95 a barrel when compared with November. This amounts to a discount of $0.10 per barrel to regional benchmark Oman/Dubai.
This comes as Libya increased its prices for November when its crude did not see any demand over the summer when Libya’s prices were cut.
Although this is seen as Saudi Arabia trying to increase prices at the expense of the volume of sales, which is somewhat true, it suggests also that Saudi Arabia is comfortable with its sales of oil to Asian customers.
Considering that Saudi Arabia hiked its Official Selling Price (OSP) to Asian refiners came at the same time they cut prices to U.S. customers, it indicates that Saudi Arabia is to a certain degree satisfied with its market share in Asia.
This also suggests that Saudi Arabia is preparing for a war against the shale oil boom in North America that has sent U.S. oil imports to their lowest in many years.