Saudi Arabia raises Sept. Arab Light crude prices

LONDON: Saudi Arabia has raised the price of its Arab Light crude in September to customers in Europe, Asia and the US, Saudi Aramco said.
The price of Arab Light to Asia, the biggest buyer of Saudi crude, was raised by $1.00 to the Oman/Dubai average plus $2.90 a barrel, Aramco said.
The tables below show the full FOB prices for September in US dollars.
Saudi term crude supplies to the US are priced as a differential to the Argus Sour Crude Index (ASCI).
Brent crude oil pared early losses to trade back toward $109 a barrel as selling pressure eased after a report showed strong growth in the US economy’s service sector.
Brent and US crude each lost more than $1 earlier in the session on news of rebounding production in Libya.
By 1:14 p.m. 1714 GMT, Brent was down 15 cents per barrel to $108.80 after earlier dropping as much as $1.40 to $107.55.
US crude oil futures lost 11 cents to $106.83, after earlier falling to $105.70.
Prices remained under pressure, however, from news of increased supply from the Libya and the North Sea.



Libyan Oil Minister Abdelbari Al-Arusi told a news conference the country’s oil output had improved to around 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) and the government was working to end protests at oil facilities.
Arusi said last week that strikes and protests at oil terminals had cut output to 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 1.4 million before output was disrupted.
“The return of Libyan production has applied pressure to the oil complex, including products because the loss of Libyan oil would probably have helped exports from the US,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst with the Price Futures Group in Chicago, Illinois.
Output is also improving in the North Sea, industry sources say, with news that the Buzzard oilfield, Britain’s largest, was expected to begin restarting later on Monday, on schedule, after a five-day maintenance shutdown.
Loss of production from key oil exporters has been an important support for prices over the last month with a series of unscheduled outages disrupting output.
Shipments from Iraq have also been hit by damage to pipelines and maintenance work is also expected to cut Iraqi output by between 400,000 and 500,000 bpd in September.
The European retail figures cast a shadow over modestly expansionary manufacturing and construction data from Britain and Germany, highlighting the fragile nature of Europe’s economic recovery and energy demand.
Markit’s composite euro zone PMI broke above the 50 growth threshold for the first time since January 2012. German business activity rebounded, while the downturns in the euro zone’s next three biggest economies — France, Italy and Spain — eased.