Saudi Aramco Said to Supply Full Oil Volumes to Europe in May

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest state-owned oil company, will supply full contractual volumes of crude to at least two customers in Europe next month, according to refinery officials.

Aramco will provide 100 percent of cargoes sold under long- term contracts, said two refinery officials, who declined to be identified because agreements with the Middle East producers are confidential.

Saudi Arabia exported 690,000 barrels a day of Arab Light and Extra Light crude to the 24 European members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in the fourth quarter of 2010, the International Energy Agency said last month in its monthly Oil Market Report. It didn’t ship any Arab Medium and Arab Heavy grade to Europe, according to the IEA report.

Aramco will maintain full shipments to Asian refiners next month. Its full export allocation follows a Dec. 11 decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to leave output quotas unchanged for the seventh time since 2008.

OPEC exceeded its targets by 1.592 million barrels a day in March, according to a Bloomberg survey of producers, analysts and oil companies who follow the group’s output. That was less than in February as the rebellion in Libya shut as much as two- thirds of the country’s production.

Saudi Arabia raised its output last month by 300,000 barrels a day to 9 million, the survey showed. That was about 949,000 barrels more than its target of 8.051 million.

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-11/saudi-aramco-said-to-supply-full-oil-volumes-to-europe-in-may.html)