Saudi Arabia is offering more crude oil to Asian refiners through ship-to-ship transfers off Oman’s Sohar port after drone attacks damaged a key pipeline carrying oil to the Red Sea, sources familiar with the matter said.
State oil company Saudi Aramco has offered its flagship Arab Light grade, along with Arab Medium and Arab Heavy, to long-term Asian buyers for loading off Sohar, which lies outside the Strait of Hormuz.
The offers indicate that Aramco is moving more crude out of the Gulf for onward transfer beyond the strategic waterway. The company has made at least two similar offers of Arab Medium and Arab Heavy to Asian buyers in recent weeks.
Saudi Aramco declined to comment.
Saudi Arabia has doubled daily crude loadings at its Ras Tanura and Juaymah terminals inside the Gulf over the past week to around two very large crude carriers, equivalent to four million barrels, according to satellite tracking by consultancy Energy Aspects.
Separate ship-tracking data from Kpler showed four such tankers, capable of carrying a combined eight million barrels, loading at Ras Tanura on Wednesday.
The increase comes as other Gulf producers offer more crude for loading outside the Strait of Hormuz after securing vessels to shuttle supplies through the waterway, often with their tracking signals switched off.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has relied on its East-West pipeline to divert crude to the Red Sea port of Yanbu since the war with Iran severely curtailed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The kingdom shut the pipeline on Friday after it was damaged in drone attacks, sending global oil benchmarks to multi-month highs.
At least one Asian buyer with cargoes scheduled for loading this month said Aramco had notified it that shipments from Yanbu would be delayed and rescheduled. The notice did not specify the length of the delay.
Saudi Arabia has also informed European customers that some crude cargoes scheduled for loading in September will be cancelled, while shipments from Yanbu have been suspended, trading and shipping sources said.
