Saudi Aramco has offered spot cargoes to European buyers for October and November after an attack on its East-West pipeline disrupted exports. The pipeline has restarted, and the extra supply has reportedly contributed to lower prices for some grades in Europe.
Saudi Aramco has offered spot oil cargoes to European buyers for October and November, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. The company is working to make up for supplies lost when a key export pipeline shut down.
Discounted cargoes from two loading points
Aramco offered shipments for late-October loading earlier this month and added supply for November pickup last week, according to the report. The October cargoes carried a discount to Aramco's official selling price. Buyers could lift them from either Sidi Kerir, a Mediterranean port, or Yanbu on the Saudi Red Sea coast.
The spot offers follow a supply gap. Aramco had told European refiners they would receive no term-contract cargoes in October after an attack on its East-West pipeline disrupted exports from Yanbu.
Pipeline restart eases European supply
The pipeline has since restarted, which lets Aramco raise exports and helps ease tight conditions in Europe. The company is also said to have told European refiners they would receive their full November allocations under term contracts. The added Saudi supply has reportedly contributed to lower prices for some grades in Europe this week.
Saudi Arabia typically exports an average of 700,000 to 800,000 barrels per day of crude to Europe, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Most of that supply moves under term contracts, but uncertainty over those shipments has pushed European refiners toward spot purchases.
Middle East exports near prewar levels
Wider crude oil flows from the region are recovering too. Oil exports from the Middle East have risen to near prewar levels. Saudi Arabia boosted production by a third in September to over 8 million barrels per day, recovering from the lowest in more than three decades in the previous month.
The UAE has pushed its output to a record high, according to the International Energy Agency, while Iraqi exports are approaching levels from before the conflict.
Source: Investing.com
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