Saudi price hike surprises

World’s largest oil exporter announces March price increase in effort to abide by OPEC cut.

LONDON (Reuters) — Saudi Arabia raised its crude prices for March as the world’s largest oil exporter sought to trim supplies to abide by the latest OPEC cut, trade sources said on Monday.

Although a price increase was expected, lifters and traders said they were surprised by its extent compared to February.

“This has nothing to do with the economics of the grade, but simply to cut availability. There is no other reason for such a big increase,” a European crude trader said.

The kingdom agreed to reduce supply by 158,000 barrels per day, deepening its 380,000 bpd cut from Nov. 1, as part of a broader OPEC agreement reached in December.

Reuters