Some Europe refiners stop taking Saudi heavy crude

LONDON (Reuters) – Two European oil refiners have stopped buying Saudi Arabia’s heaviest crude and are buying other grades after supplies were cut in line with OPEC output curbs last year, officials at the refiners said on Friday.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia shouldered the largest share of OPEC’s agreed supply cuts of 4.2 million barrels per day last year, and even reduced supplies further than its output target.

It would have cut its heavier grades first, as they are worth the least and are harder for refiners to transform into transport fuels.

One of the refiners has discontinued the purchase of Arab Heavy while buying other grades, while the other has bought no crude at all from OPEC’s largest exporter for six months or more.

“We do not have Heavy any more. The volume of Heavy to Europe have fallen so much in the second half of this year and from time to time they refused to supply Heavy to us. So we have found another solution,” one official said.

The official did not specify when it halted the purchase of the crude and described the volume it used to buy as “very small”. Aramco’s largest export grade is Arab Light, and about half of its total exports go to Asia.

Europe’s demand for oil from Middle Eastern OPEC producers as a whole has fallen due partly to a sharp fall in consumer and industry demand for oil products such as gasoline and diesel, sources at many European refineries said.

Reuters