Saudi Aramco, the
world’s top oil exporter, has cut crude supply to Asian buyers
for a second month in April, two sources with knowledge of the
matter said on Monday, after the US-Israeli war with Iran
disrupted trade via the Strait of Hormuz.
The producer is supplying only Arab Light crude exported
from the Red Sea port of Yanbu to term customers in April, the
sources said, keeping supplies to Asian refineries tight and
capping their refined products output.
Aramco could not be immediately reached for
comment outside office hours.
Saudi Arabia has exported 4.355 million barrels per day of
crude so far in March, data from analytics firm Kpler showed,
down from 7.108 million bpd in February.
The producer is trying to boost crude exports via Yanbu to
offset the Strait of Hormuz disruption, with loadings seen
rising to record volumes in March. China’s top refiner Sinopec
is set to load about 24 million barrels of Saudi
crude from Yanbu in March.
Oil loadings at the Yanbu port were briefly disrupted on
Thursday after a drone crashed at Saudi Aramco’s SAMREF
refinery.