Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is in active talks with European refiners to replace any shortage of Libyan oil supplies, a senior Saudi oil official said Thursday.
Top oil exporter
Saudi Arabia
is in
active talks with European refiners to replace any shortage of Libyan oil
supplies, a senior Saudi oil official said Thursday.
"Saudi are currently in talks with European companies to find out what
they need in terms of quality and quantity," the official told Dow Jones
Newswires.
Earlier Thursday, the official said state-giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi
Aramco, can provide crude of the same quality to the market once it receives
requests from oil companies in
Europe
due
to the
Libya
disruptions.
"We can either supply the crude through our East-West pipeline to the
Mediterranean
and
then to
Europe
, or we can do swap with West African crude,"
the official said, describing how a Saudi release could offset lost crude from
Libya
.
Should the Saudis opt for a swap with West African crude, supplies from
Nigeria
and
Angola
would
be redirected to
Europe
instead of
Asia
,
while the kingdom's extra oil will replace the West African supplies.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi said this week that
Saudi
Arabia
has 4 million barrels of
spare capacity.
The Saudi official added that the current oil price surge is not justified and
caused by fear, and that Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries sees no
need yet for an emergency meeting before June.
Oil prices retreated somewhat from earlier highs Thursday, but were still
higher on the day. At 1210 GMT, the front-month April Brent contract on
London
's ICE
futures exchange was up $3.43, or 3.1%, at $114.68 a barrel. The front-month
April contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading $2.58, or 2.6%,
higher at $100.68 a barrel. Nymex futures are up 16.8% since Friday, while
Brent is up 11.5%.
Earlier, Brent prices had hit $119.79 on rumors of a anti-government protests
in Saudi Arabia.Prices quickly fell back as fears of a Saudi insurrection
faded, but the gains weren't entirely erased as
Libya
's
crisis worsened.
Ακολουθήστε το energia.gr στο Google News!Παρακολουθήστε τις εξελίξεις με την υπογραφη εγκυρότητας του energia.gr
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Πεμ, 30 Οκτωβρίου 2025 - 10:19
Πεμ, 30 Οκτωβρίου 2025 - 10:18
Τετ, 29 Οκτωβρίου 2025 - 08:25
Τετ, 29 Οκτωβρίου 2025 - 08:20
Δευ, 27 Οκτωβρίου 2025 - 09:12