China's Sinopec, Asia's largest refiner, plans to continue to cut their Saudi Arabian crude oil purchases for June and July loadings, after slashing May shipments by 40 percent, two senior executives from the company's trading arm Unipec said on Tuesday.
The Unipec executives, who declined to be identified as they are not authorized to speak to the media, said the reductions in May followed state oil company Saudi Aramco's decision to raise its official selling prices (OSP) for Arab Light crude which made the grade uncompetitive against other crudes.
The unexpected price increase prompted some Asian refiners to trim imports and seek substitutes in the spot market. "Arab Light's economics are not as good as oil from other Middle East producers.
-Reuters, Singapore
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