06/06/2009
LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian state oil company Aramco raised its official selling prices (OSPs) for all
grades of crude to Europe, Asia and the United States in July on Wednesday, following a surge in demand for its oil.Differentials for crude oil sales to Asia and the United States were marked up by between and 10 and 60 cents per
barrel while prices to Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean were raised by between $1.05 and $1.70 per barrel.
As expected, prices for heavier crude oil grades were raised more than prices for lighter grades to Europe
and Asia, while Saudi Light and Saudi Extra Light were increased most to the United States.It is the sixth month out of seven that Saudi Aramco has raised the price for its medium and heavy grades on the
back of healthy demand for fuel oil and tight supplies. Supporting the grades, Saudi Arabia's strict enforcement
of its OPEC quota curbs has led to cuts of up to about 415,000 barrels per day (bpd) to Asia, with Arab Medium
and Heavy's volumes cut the most.Saudi OSPs set the trend for Iranian, Kuwaiti and Iraqi prices, affecting around
7 million bpd of crude heading to Asia.State oil giant Saudi Aramco, which has contracted to sell up to 3.38 million bpd of crude to Asia this year,
decides its crude prices based on recommendations from customers and after calculating the change in the value
of its crude over the past month, based on yields and product prices.Traders said the higher prices would probably support the value of crudes such as Russia's Urals, which have
been trading at multi-year highs in Europe in recent weeks. "It's a big change, even if an increase was expected.
I do believe this will be supportive."Harry Tchilinguirian, senior oil analyst at BNP Paribas in London, said the prices reflected a strengthening in the
market generally in recent weeks. "I can understand the upping of the OSP on heavier grades when fuel oil has
narrowed its discount," he said.Saudi selling prices are calculated as differentials above or below regional benchmark grades.
