Saudi crude sale to Asia limited by

SINGAPORE: Saudi Arabia may find itself unable to fully serve its crude oil customers in Asia, the most important market for Middle East producers, as refiners are reluctant to accept the grades being offered.

Asian refiners want increased supplies of the lighter grades of crude to produce more expensive cleaner-burning fuels while Saudi Arabia is offering more of the heavy, high-sulphur grades.


Despite a surprise announcement by Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi about three weeks ago that the kingdom had ramped up output by 300,000 bpd or more than 3% from May 10, none of the additional barrels are likely to have been loaded onto tankers bound for Asia.

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