SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI: Saudi Arabia has sold about 60 million barrels of crude from its Gulf port of Ras Tanura inside the Strait of Hormuz for loading via ship-to-ship transfer at the Omani port of Sohar this month and next, multiple trade sources said on Friday.
The rebound in state oil company Saudi Aramco’s exports from inside the Gulf to 1 million to 1.5 million barrels per day on average, similar to or slightly higher than August’s levels, has cooled global oil prices as it could make up for some of the volume lost at its Red Sea port of Yanbu, where exports slowed after the East-West pipeline was attacked.
Chinese and South Korean refiners are among the top buyers of the spot supplies, while some volumes will be going to India and Japan, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Saudi Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of office hours.
Global oil futures fell more than $1 a barrel on Friday on reports that Saudi Arabia was seeking to return about half the capacity of the East-West pipeline within days and the nation was offering more crude cargoes to Asian refiners through ship-to-ship transfers off Sohar.
The increased Gulf exports are a boon for buyers in Asia, the main market for Saudi Arabian crude although supertanker freight rates have also hit a record this week.
The freight rate to charter a very large crude carrier to load 2 million barrels of oil in early October from Fujairah to Asia hit 800 Worldscale rate, according to a shipbroking firm.
On Friday, the Petroleum Association of Japan said the country’s oil refiners have secured sufficient crude supplies through November, pointing to the ship-to-ship transfers occurring outside the Strait of Hormuz.
“In some cases, oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz at Saudi Arabia’s risk before being transferred to us outside the Gulf. For that reason, supplies from Saudi Arabia have not ceased entirely,” PAJ President Shunichi Kito said in Tokyo.
