RIYADH: Saudi Arabia lowered the January official selling prices for the flagship Arab light crude it sells to Asia to plus $3.25 a barrel versus the Oman/Dubai average, the country’s state oil producer Aramco said on Monday.
The price is $2.20 a barrel less than the December OSP.
The top oil exporter set its Arab Light OSP to northwest Europe at minus $0.10 a barrel against ICE Brent for January, $1.80 a barrel lower than its price for December.
The OSP to the US was unchanged from last month at $6.35 versus ASCI for January.
Oil prices
Oil prices rose on Monday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, held their output targets steady ahead of a European Union ban and a price cap from the Group of Seven nations which kicked in on Russian crude.
At the same time, in a positive sign for fuel demand in the world’s top oil importer, more Chinese cities eased COVID-19 curbs over the weekend.
Brent crude futures were last up $2.40, or 2.80 percent, to $87.97 a barrel at 04.15 p.m. Saudi time, while WTI crude futures gained $2.23, or 2.79 percent, to $82.21 a barrel.
OPEC+ agreed on Sunday to stick to their October plan to cut output by 2 million barrels per day from November through 2023.
Japan sets price cap on Russian crude oil, excluding Sakhalin-2
Japan implemented a price cap on Russian crude oil from Monday, but crude oil imported from the Sakhalin-2 plant will be excluded, the government said in a statement.
The decision follows an agreement by the Group of Seven nations and Australia on Friday to limit the price of Russian crude oil at $60 per barrel in the latest move to slap sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
The exclusion of crude oil from the far eastern Russian Sakhalin-2 project, which Japanese energy operators hold stakes in after the exit of Shell, was decided “in light of Japan’s energy security,” the government said in the statement.
Further measures on Russian petroleum products, set to begin on Feb. 5, 2023, will be announced at a later date, the statement added.
Algeria says OPEC+ decision to keep output unchanged appropriate
Algeria’s energy minister has said the OPEC+ decision to keep output unchanged was appropriate to market fluctuations, the country’s state news agency reported.
The OPEC+ group will closely monitor crude markets for any developments, minister Mohamed Arkab said in remarks after its Sunday meeting, adding that the decision kept Algerian output unchanged at 1.007 million bpd.
(With input from Reuters)
