Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world’s largest crude exporter, said Arab Light crude sold to Asia will be priced at a premium of $2.80 a barrel to the regional benchmark for April loading compared with $1.55 for March. Saudi Aramco, as the state-run company is known, raised the premiums for other light grades sold to Asia, as well as its Arab Medium crude, and narrowed the discount for Arab Heavy, the company said in an e-mailed statement today. Aramco also raised the differentials for most grades sold to U.S. customers while cutting the formulas for deliveries to Northwest Europe, the statement showed. Each of the three regions is priced against a different benchmark. The following table gives differentials for the regions into which Aramco sells in relation to benchmark prices, the month-on-month change and the degrees of gravity as defined by the American Petroleum Institute. Differentials are in U.S. dollars a barrel. United States Variety API April March Change Extra Light 38.5 +1.85 +1.85 0.00 Arab Light 32.5 +0.05 -0.05 +0.10 Arab Medium 31 -2.10 -2.15 +0.05 Arab Heavy 27 -3.40 -3.75 +0.35 ---------------------------------------------------- Prices for customers in the U.S. are expressed as a differential to the Argus Sour Crude Index published by Argus Media Ltd. Asia Variety API April March Change Super Light 50.6 +7.60 +4.20 +3.40 Extra Light 38.5 +5.20 +3.10 +2.10 Arab Light 32.5 +2.80 +1.55 +1.25 Arab Medium 31 +0.90 +0.25 +0.65 Arab Heavy 27 -0.75 -0.85 +0.10 ---------------------------------------------------- Prices for customers in Asia are expressed as a differential to the average of Oman and Dubai grades, the two Arabian Gulf benchmarks used by Asian oil traders. The Dubai and Oman price assessments are published by Platts, the energy-information division of McGraw-Hill Cos. Northwest Europe Variety API April March Change Extra Light 38.5 +0.70 +1.55 -0.85 Arab Light 32.5 -1.25 -0.85 -0.40 Arab Medium 31 -2.95 -2.40 -0.55 Arab Heavy 27 -4.60 -4.30 -0.30 --------------------------------------------------- Mediterranean Variety API April March Change Extra Light 38.5 +1.75 +1.75 +0.30 Arab Light 32.5 -1.10 -1.10 0.00 Arab Medium 31 -2.60 -2.45 -0.15 Arab Heavy 27 -4.80 -4.40 -0.40 --------------------------------------------------- Prices for Northwest European and Mediterranean customers are expressed as a differential to the Brent weighted average posted by Intercontinental Exchange, free on board Ras Tanura. To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Voss in London at sev@bloomberg.net; Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mike Harrison at mharrison5@bloomberg.net

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