Saudi Aramco to Begin Trading Non-Saudi Crude

Saudi Aramco to Begin Trading Non-Saudi Crude

Looking to expand its operations, Saudi Aramco plans to begin trading non-Saudi crude oil, Reuters reports.

Buying and selling crude oil on the international market will increase the company’s efficiency and profits, the CEO of Saudi Aramco Products Trading Company, Ibrahim El Buainain, told Bloomberg.

“We’ll keep selling our own oil as normal, and we want to get into trading third-party crude,” El Buainain stated.

The move is largely driven, according to Reuters’ sources, by the company’s need to supply its joint ventures and subsidiaries abroad, such as the S-Oil refinery in South Korea and the Motiva refinery in the US.

“Rather than that Motiva for example goes into the market and buy non-Saudi crude, Aramco Trading now can supply those barrels,” a source close to Saudi Aramco told Reuters.

To facilitate operations, the company will combine the marketing of crude and the trading of refined products under the same leadership, El Buainain told Bloomberg.

“Getting into crude trading is a big departure for Aramco, but it’s something that oil majors are already doing and making money on,” Edward, Bell, an analyst at Emirates NBD PJSC, told Bloomberg.

Saudi Aramco Products Trading Company trades approximately 1.5 million barrels a day (b/d) of refined products, according to Reuters.

The Saudi oil giant is preparing for a 5% IPO next year. It has also reduced production this year to comply with a production-cut agreement between OPEC and some major, non-OPEC, oil-producing companies.

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