SEATTLE (Oil Monster): 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 U.S.-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.
Courtesy: www.reuters.com
