Kuwait Could Switch To Argus Pricing For Oil From WTI – Sources

DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)–Kuwait could switch the pricing of its crude sold to U.S. customers to the Argus Sour Crude Index, or ASCI, from Platt’s West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, following in the footsteps of Saudi Arabia, Kuwaiti oil officials said.

“Kuwait could look at it definitely because we don’t think the pricing peg today to the WTI is really representative of the market,” a senior Kuwait oil official told Zawya Dow Jones.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has dropped the longtime WTI benchmark, which is based on a formula tied to light, sweet crude futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, or Nymex. State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. will implement the new policy for January oil sales to the U.S.

London-based Argus Media launched the ASCI in May this year to reflect the U.S. Gulf coast medium sour crude, where growing production from the region has given a boost to alternatives to the WTI assessment.

Saudi exports to the U.S. are closer to medium sour crude produced in the Gulf of Mexico, which has a lower-quality oil with higher levels of sulfur than the sweet, light oil.

Zawya Dow Jones