Saudi Arabia is unleashing a wave of crude toward Europe, traditionally the backyard for Russian oil sales, pledging to supply regional refineries with as much as triple their usual intake from the kingdom.
The Saudi shipments, coupled with unprecedented discounts, are turning the European oil market into the most bitterly fought corner of an increasingly acrimonious oil price battle between Riyadh and Moscow. Saudi Arabia is offering its flagship Arab Light crude into Rotterdam for roughly $25 a barrel, a massive discount to the price of Russia’s Urals.
European refiners including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc, Total SA, OMV AG, Repsol SA and Cepsa SA have all received crude allocations from state-owned Saudi Aramco significantly above their normal levels, according to people familiar with their operations. The range of extra supplies was between 25% and 200%, depending of the company, the same people said.
