By Florence Tan
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports to China are set to fall in September, slipping from a more than two-year high in August after the world’s largest exporter raised prices, several trade sources said on Monday.
State oil firm Saudi Aramco will ship about 43 million barrels to China in September, or 1.43 million barrels per day (bpd), a tally of allocations to Chinese refiners showed.
That is down from 1.65 million bpd allocated in August.
Companies which planned to reduce Saudi crude liftings in September include Asia’s top refiner Sinopec and its Fujian Refinery joint venture with Saudi Aramco, the sources said.
PetroChina and Shenghong Petrochemical will also slightly reduce volumes in September from August, they added.
Separately, several Indian refiners were allotted full volumes for September and did not request more supply, despite uncertainties around Russian crude imports after U.S. President Donald Trump’s warnings against buying oil from Moscow, three sources familiar with the matter said.
Last week, Saudi Aramco hiked its September crude prices for Asian buyers for the second month in a row on robust demand.
The price of flagship Arab Light crude rose to $3.20 a barrel above the average Oman/Dubai quotes, the highest premium since April, Reuters data showed.
(Reporting by Florence Tan and Chen Aizhu in Singapore, Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Kim Coghill and Clarence Fernandez)
