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Tokyo/London: Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, will keep its crude oil supply curbs to Asia and Europe steady in June from May, industry sources said yesterday.
The steady volume indicates that the kingdom, the largest producer in Opec, is still keeping a lid on supply, following deals with other member countries to trim supply by 1.7 million barrels per day.
"There are no changes," a source at a European buyer of Saudi crude said. "Our volume is in line with the other months."
Four European refiners said supply would be unchanged.
Japanese and South Korean sources said Saudi Arabia will supply crude at 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent below contracted volumes in June, steady from May.
"There is about a 10 per cent cut, and that is the same as the past several months," one of the sources in Asia said.
Saudi Arabia sells about half of its 7 million bpd of oil exports to Asia, including Japan, which buys about 1.1 million barrels from the kingdom daily.
The Organisation of Pet-roleum Exporting Coun-tries (Opec) is under pressure from consumers to reverse the supply curbs agreed last year that have helped lift the price of Brent crude to above $67 a barrel from about $50 in January.
But analysts expect the group, which pumps more than a third of the world's oil and holds its next scheduled meeting in September, to remain cautious about opening the taps.
Cautious Opec
"Most likely, Opec will continue to be very careful about production volumes until the next meeting because the market focus is low gasoline inventory levels in the United States," said Tony Nunan of Mitsubishi Corp. "Saudi Arabia's crude does not change that."
Brent crude rose 48 cents at $67.31 a barrel by 0957 GMT. Gasoline was little changed at $2.3540 a gallon.
Last week, the International Energy Agency, an adviser to 26 industrialised countries, called on Opec to raise output before the summer to prevent a sharp decline in consumer nations' stocks.
The IEA said fuel inventories in developed countries fell by 900,000 bpd in the past six months, a decline it described as unusually high.
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