11:16 - 15.04.2026

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April 15, Fineko/abc.az. Saudi Arabia will sharply raise the price of its main export grade of oil Arab Light for Asian buyers in May.

ABC.AZ informs with reference to Saudi Aramco thayt the cost of a barrel will increase by $17, as a result of which Arab Light will be sold at a premium of $ 19.5 to the Asian reference basket Oman/Dubai.

This will be a record high. For comparison, in the April contracts, the premium was only $2.5 per barrel.

For buyers from Northwestern Europe and the Mediterranean, Arab Light's premium to benchmark oil Brent will be $27.85 per barrel. For North American buyers, the premium to index Argus ASCI will reach $14.60 per barrel.

Despite the fact that Asian customers remain the main ones for Saudi Aramco, Saudi oil will be the most expensive for European buyers.

One of the reasons for this is that currently only Saudi Arabia can continue to export oil through the East–West pipeline and the Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea.

The supply of Medium and Heavy varieties, as well as some light varieties through Yanbu, has been discontinued - priority has been given to the flagship Arab Light variety.

As a result, the remaining varieties remain effectively blocked in the Persian Gulf due to the blocked Strait of Hormuz.

At the same time, it is not yet known whether the current logistics will continue until May, since further development of confrontation between the United States and Iran remains unpredictable.