Malaysia’s official selling price for Tapis crude, a benchmark contract in Asia-Pacific, fell for a second month in June, reflecting a decline in oil futures. The price is based on a new formula linked to North Sea Brent.
The low-sulfur or “sweet” crude was set at US$120.94 a barrel, an official at state-owned Petroliam Nasional Bhd., or Petronas, said today in a telephone message. He declined to be identified because of company policy. The price is down US$1.77, or 1.4 per cent, from May and is the lowest in three months.
Brent crude futures in London fell 3.6 per cent in June, capping the first two-month decline since 2009, on speculation Europe’s debt crisis will stall economic growth and reduce fuel demand. The contract for August settlement on the ICE Futures Europe exchange traded below US$112 a barrel today.
The Tapis price for June is the first based on Petronas’s new formula, which comprises a price-adjustment factor plus the full-month average of dated Brent assessments from Platts. The North Sea crude marker, also of a sweet variety, is used as a benchmark price in Europe, the Mediterranean and Africa.
Previously, the Tapis adjustment factor was added to the average of assessments from the Asian Petroleum Price Index, a Hong Kong-based panel of traders that publishes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Kuala Lumpur-based Petronas sells its Labuan and Miri Light grades at the same price as Tapis, while Bintulu and Dulang are shipped for 30 cents a barrel less. -- Bloomberg
